Recently, a moon orbiter operated by the United States successfully managed to take images of the Chandrayaan-2 lander’s landing site. However, as per the media reports, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is analysing and reviewing the photographs as it was near lunar dusk when the orbiter passed over, which means large parts of the area were in shadow. In fact, it is also possible that the highly pixelated images may not have captured the Vikram lander.
When Chandrayaan-2 Lost Contact
On September 7, Vikram, Chandrayaan-2‘s lander module that houses the six-wheeled rover Pragyaan, went silent when it was 2.1 km away from the lunar surface, according to K Sivan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Vikram lander lost communication with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) moments before its landing and closely at the end of its lunar descent, which went according to plan for the most part.
PM Modi Hugs and Consoles ISRO Chief
Despite a motivational speech Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was with the Team Chandrayaan-2 to speak to them, ISRO Chief K. Sivan could not hold his tears and he broke down in front of the PM. The PM immediately hugged and consoled the visibly emotional chairman on his way out. The video went viral on social media where PM Modi was seen consoling the OSRO chief with a heartfelt hug.
Only a few minutes earlier, PM Narendra Modi had told the scientists that there were no failures in science, only experiments from which they always took away something. In his encouraging speech to the scientists, the PM added that a major part of the mission had been successful and congratulated the ISRO for its efforts.
Mission Life of Lander and Rover
Now, the possibility of establishing contact with the lander has a deadline of September 21 because after that the moon region will enter into a lunar night. However, as per the ISRO, the mission life of lander Vikram and rover Pragyan were one lunar day which is equal to 14 Earth Days, whereas that of the orbiter is one Earth year.
Moreover, the nights on the moon can be extremely cold, especially in the south polar region where Vikram is lying and the instruments aboard the lander are not suitable to withstand that kind of temperature. Also, the electronics would not be able to work and would get permanently damaged.
Chandrayaan- 2 Images on India Content If you are looking for Chandryaan-2 images captured by NASA then you can check the India Content website. Here, you will find several other images of Indian Space Research Organisation’s chairperson Kailasavadivoo Sivan from an interview on the launch of Chandrayaan in Sriharikota. Also, if you are looking for more images from ISRO then you can easily find them on the India Content website. The pictures are available in three sizes-small, medium and large—on the India Content website.
You can purchase various other content images from the https://www.indiacontent.in
