India loses contact with moon lander, landing appears to have failed

[Elderberry]

Houston Chronicle by  Alex Stuckey Sep. 6, 2019

India's attempted moon landing Friday appeared to end in failure after space officials lost contact with the lander just one mile above the lunar surface.

The Vikram lander was scheduled to touch down on the moon's South Pole — an area that has not been explored — around 3:30 p.m. But in a move that almost mirrored the failed Israeli moon landing attempt in April, space officials lost contact with the lander just above the surface.

Silence fell over the Indian Space Research Organization's mission control room. Dejected looking scientists stared at their computer screens. Heads fell into hands.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/space/article/Will-India-become-the-4th-country-to-touchdown-on-14415907.php

[Elderberry]

India Locates Its Lost Vikram Lander on the Moon

By Tariq Malik, SPACE.com on September 9, 2019

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/india-locates-its-lost-vikram-lander-on-the-moon/

No signals have been received from the lander, but attempts are underway to establish communication

India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter circling the moon has spotted the country’s lost Vikram lander on the lunar surface, but there is still no signal from the lander, according to Indian media reports.

K Sivan, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation, said today (Sept. 8) that the Vikram lander was located by Chandrayaan-2 and efforts to restore contact the probe will continue for at least 14 days, according to a Times of Indiareport.

“We have found the location of Lander Vikram on [the] lunar surface and Orbiter has clicked a thermal image of Lander,” Sivan told the ANI news service in an interview, adding that attempts to communicate with the lander are ongoing.

More at link.

[Wingnut]

Gee, How hard can it be to land on the moon?  We did it in 1969 with nothing but slide rules and American Exceptionalism..

[truth_seeker]

Gee, How hard can it be to land on the moon?  We did it in 1969 with nothing but slide rules and American Exceptionalism..

Today it is doubtful we could build a railway. Ask California.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Gee, How hard can it be to land on the moon?  We did it in 1969 with nothing but slide rules and American Exceptionalism..

“We have found the location of Lander Vikram on [the] lunar surface..."

Hope they can salvage something out of this mission.

[Snarknado]

Maybe they should have waited until a full moon so they'd have a bigger target?

[xyno]

Maybe they should have waited until a full moon so they'd have a bigger target?

You suggest that now? 

[Elderberry]

https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/chandrayaan-2-hopes-fading-opportunity-relink-lander-closing-1598958-2019-09-13

Chandrayaan-2: Hopes fading as window of opportunity to relink with lander closing in

Chandrayaan-2's lander Vikram lost communication with ground-station early on September 7 during its final descent minutes before the planned touch-down on the Moon. Efforts to reestablish the link has been going on since then.

A team at Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network here has been desperately trying to restore the link with the lander.

"With the right orientation, it can still generate power and recharge batteries with solar panels. But it looks less and less probable, progressively," the official said.

Another top Isro official said "hard-landing" of Vikram on the Lunar surface has made the task of linking again with it that much difficult as it may not have the "right orientation (to receive signals)".

"Impact shock may have caused damage to the lander," he claimed.

Isro has not RPT not commented on the condition of the 1,471-kg lander of Chandrayaan-2 -- first Indian mission to explore the lunar terrain with home-grown technology -- and named after Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme.

[Wingnut]

India should have "Outsourced" the job to America.