As an Indian, everyone in the country was waiting for this day. We were awake until 3 am. I was very surprised to see that most people were stuck to their tv screen, late in the night, just to see the landing of our satellite on the moon’s surface because of our belief in our scientists. But unfortunately, it did not happen in accordance with what we were expecting.
After travelling a distance of approximately 3.8 lakh km, at about 1:52 am (IST), the lander deviated from its intended trajectory. Around 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) from the surface of the moon, communication was lost and the lander crashed. I could see every eye full of tears because after achieving 95% of the task, they failed to make it to 100%. We can understand how those who worked for this mission, are feeling at the moment.
From “all is not lost” to “a broken dream”, there is a mixed reaction in the media. Some of which are as follows :
1. “India loses contact with Chandrayaan-2 Moon lander during its descent” (The New York Times)
“India’s attempt to land a robotic spacecraft near the moon’s South Pole on Saturday appeared to end in failure.”
2. “Chandrayaan-2: India’s second moon mission may have failed as scientists lose contact with probe” (The Telegraph)
“The Indian space agency lost contact with its Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission on Friday night, in a setback to the nation’s ambitious plan to land an unmanned probe near the south pole of the moon.”
3. “India’s first lunar lander falls silent just before touchdown” (National Geographic)
“An Indian spacecraft’s unprecedented attempt to make a soft, controlled landing in the moon’s south polar region has ended in excruciating silence: Shortly before touchdown, the robotic lander Vikram—part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission—fell out of contact with mission control.”
4. “Missing lander or no, India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission isn’t over” (Quartz)
“It looks like India won’t become the fourth nation to softly land a robot on the Earth’s moon today.”
5. “India’s first attempt to land on the moon appears to have failed” (The Washington Post)
“India’s first attempt to land on the moon went awry early Saturday when the country’s space agency lost contact with the lander as it neared the lunar site, minutes before touchdown was expected.”
Source: msn.com
But Will It Affect Other Projects Of ISRO?
The answer is a big no. The ISRO chairman Dr K Sivan said in a meeting with Doordarshan team that they have various missions in the coming months and they will implement all their projects as per plan.
Is There Any Possibility Of Communicating Again With The Vikram Lander?
Adding to his words, Dr Sivan stated that their scientists have only 14 days to establish contact, which is equivalent to one lunar day. Dr Sivan described PM Modi as a “source of inspiration and support”. “His speech gave us motivation. The special phrase that I noted was: one should not aim for results, but for experiments, with science.. Experiments will lead to results.”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKj2Bl565Do
What Is The Good Thing We Have Seen In This So Far?
We are getting support from all the people of our country as well as from other countries on this issue, and I strongly support our scientists’ approach as I believe that there is no experiment without failure and each failure will lead us to a new invention. Everyone has failed somewhere in our life but that did not stop us from living the dreams we always wanted to live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt0BtvQdx-k
Also, we have seen our prime minister encouraging the efforts of Chandrayaan-2 team and cheering them for their future projects which show the positive side of him as a leader of the country.