{"id":12959,"date":"2019-09-06T21:54:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T13:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/indias-first-attempt-to-land-on-the-moon-appears-to-end-in-failure\/"},"modified":"2019-09-06T21:54:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T13:54:42","slug":"indias-first-attempt-to-land-on-the-moon-appears-to-end-in-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/indias-first-attempt-to-land-on-the-moon-appears-to-end-in-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s first attempt to land on the moon appears to end in failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated at 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT) with Modi comments.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_40649\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40649\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-40649\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2_mcc.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2_mcc.jpg 900w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2_mcc-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2_mcc-768x430.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2_mcc-678x381.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40649\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A member of the Chandrayaan 2 team reacts after contact with the Vikram lander was lost Friday. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ground teams lost communication with India\u2019s first lunar landing mission moments before its scheduled touchdown on the moon Friday, and the robotic research craft apparently crashed during final descent.<\/p>\n<p>The Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said controllers lost contact with the Vikram lander in the final minutes of its descent to a landing site near the moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n<p>A live broadcast from the lander control center in Bengaluru showed tension rising as the spacecraft neared the lunar surface, with excitement turning to despondency after engineers unexpectedly lost their radio link with Vikram.<\/p>\n<p>India was seeking to become the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon, following successes by the former Soviet Union, the United States and China.<\/p>\n<p>The Vikram lander, part of India\u2019s multi-part Chandrayaan 2 mission, was steering toward a landing zone at 70.9 degrees south latitude on the near side of the moon. Touchdown was set for 4:23 p.m. EDT (2023 GMT) Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft\u2019s targeted landing site was closer to the moon\u2019s south pole than any previous mission.<\/p>\n<p>Indian prime minister Narendra Modi observed the landing attempt from a gallery overlooking the Chandrayaan 2 control center in Bengaluru.<\/p>\n<p>Video from the live broadcast showed K. Sivan, ISRO\u2019s chairman, meeting with Modi soon after teams lost contact with Vikram, apparently briefing the prime minister on the status of the landing attempt.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1170072874922758144&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2019%2F09%2F06%2Findias-first-attempt-to-land-on-the-moon-appears-to-end-in-failure%2F&amp;sessionId=2d410eec3b52512cf878edaafd9dcb34e4bd81d3&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1170072874922758144\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782697423927448827=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Somber scenes inside India\u2019s Chandrayaan 2 control center after teams lost communication with the Vikram moon lander. https:\/\/t.co\/QL0rCdshIS pic.twitter.com\/kjVBb7e3Mb<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) September 6, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Vikram, named for the father of India\u2019s space program, was in the final stages of a 15-minute powered descent to the moon\u2019s surface when teams lost contact with the spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Vikram lander descent was as planned, and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometers (1.3 miles),\u201d Sivan said in the control center after briefing Modi. \u201cSubsequently, the communications from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data is being analyzed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Modi later visited ISRO teams, telling them to \u201cbe courageous\u201d before meeting with Indian students invited to witness the landing at the control center.<\/p>\n<p>The somber mood inside the Chandrayaan 2 control center mirrored the appearance of Israeli engineers in April, when the Beresheet lander crashed during an attempt to become the first privately-funded spacecraft to safely land on the moon.<\/p>\n<p>The Indian prime minister returned to the control center Bengaluru several hours later to address the nation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe came very close, but we will need to cover more ground in the times to come,\u201d Modi said. \u201cEvery Indian is filled with a spirit of pride as well as confidence. We are proud of our space program and scientists. Their hard work and determination has ensured a better life, not only for our citizens, but also for other nations \u2026 India is suffering, but there will be many more opportunities to be proud and rejoice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to our space program, the best is yet to come,\u201d Modi continued. \u201cThere are new frontiers to discover and new places to go \u2026 To our scientists, I want to say India is with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>India\u2019s landing attempt Friday was the third try to put a spacecraft on the moon\u2019s surface this year. Before Beresheet\u2019s failed landing in April, China successfully landed the Chang\u2019e 4 spacecraft on the far side of the moon in January.<\/p>\n<p>The Vikram lander ignited four of its retrorockets as designed at 4:07 p.m. EDT (2007 GMT) to begin a pre-programmed descent sequence expected to last more than 15 minutes.&nbsp;The braking rockets were designed to slow Vikram\u2019s horizontal velocity from 3,600 mph (1.6 kilometers per second) to zero in preparation for landing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_40625\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40625\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-40625\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vikram_art1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vikram_art1.jpg 900w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vikram_art1-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vikram_art1-768x467.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vikram_art1-678x412.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40625\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist\u2019s illustration of the Vikram lander during descent. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The four throttleable liquid-fueled engines fired for 11 minutes, apparently as designed, to complete the Vikram lander\u2019s \u201crough braking phase\u201d guiding the craft to an altitude of around 24,000 feet, or 7.4 kilometers. Then Vikram was supposed to use a laser altimeter and hazard avoidance camera to scan the lunar surface, providing inputs to the spacecraft\u2019s navigation computer to control its descent rate.<\/p>\n<p>Vikram was then supposed to head for an altitude of around 1,300 feet (400 meters), before proceeding down to 330 feet (100 meters). The four-legged spacecraft was programmed to hover momentarily to allow its landing sensors to identify a safe, flat, boulder-free landing site before beginning the final descent.<\/p>\n<p>A center engine was scheduled to ignite at an altitude of approximately 42 feet (13 meters) to control the final seconds of the landing, a measure intended to reduce the amount of dust kicked up as Vikram reached the lunar surface.<\/p>\n<p>But the loss of communication suggested something went wrong during the final minutes of Vikram\u2019s descent. ISRO did not offer any additional details on the fate of the lander in the immediate hours after the preset landing time.<\/p>\n<p>Less than half of the attempts to land on the moon since the dawn of the Space Age have been successful.<\/p>\n<p>In a press conference before Vikram\u2019s descent, Sivan said he was confident in a smooth landing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne good thing is we are learning from their failures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the confidence in this landing mission,\u201d Sivan said before the landing attempt. \u201cWe are confident because we have enough testing, enough simulations. All the subsystem- and system-level, sensor-level, thruster-level, all the simulations here are done. We are confident that anything humanly possible, we did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut at the same time, it\u2019s a new mission,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a terrifiying moment for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_40650\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40650\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-40650\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2orbiter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2orbiter.jpg 900w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2orbiter-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2orbiter-768x430.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/chandrayaan2orbiter-678x381.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40650\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist\u2019s concept of the Chandrayaan 2 lunar orbiter. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Chandrayaan 2 mission launched July 22 from a spaceport on India\u2019s southeastern coast, and it arrived in orbit around the moon Aug. 20. The Chandrayaan 2 mission\u2019s orbiter module, which will image and study the moon from an altitude of around 62 miles (100 kilometers), separated from the mission\u2019s Vikram lander Monday at 0745 GMT (3:45 a.m. EDT).<\/p>\n<p>The Vikram lander then fired its rocket thrusters to maneuver into a lower orbit that ranges between 21 miles (35 kilometers) and 62 miles (101 kilometers) above the moon\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n<p>The maneuvers set up Vikram to begin its final 15-minute powered descent Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom that time onward, the entire thing will be decided by the Chandrayaan 2 lander only,\u201d Sivan said before the landing attempt. \u201cWhen the lander is coming down, it will take images of the place, and it will compare with the image of what we stored on-board. It will find a flat surface, it will re-target, it will hover for some time, and it will decide where to land, and it will land. It will land autonomously in an intelligent way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lander measured about 8.3 feet (2.5 meters) tall and 6.6 feet (2 meters) wide, and it carried a 59-pound (27-kilogram) rover named Pragyan, the Sanskrit word for \u201cwisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Pragyan rover was expected to drive off a ramp onto the lunar surface a few hours after Vikram\u2019s landing. Pragyan was designed to study the composition of rocks and soil at the landing site, while Vikram was to take panoramic images and conduct its own experiments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have payload systems on the orbiter, and some are on the lander, and some are on the rover,\u201d Sivan said. \u201cMainly these will be looking at rock-forming elements \u2026 mapping of rock-forming elements like magnesium, aluminum, calcium, iron. That is one study.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnother one is the mapping of minerals and water,\u201d he said. \u201cThen another scientific study is the study of the exosphere. The atmosphere is very, very mild. Then, at the place where the lander is landing, what is the seismic activity there? Another thing is after landing, a probe will go into the lunar surface and study the thermal characteristics and thermal conductivity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A NASA-provided laser retroreflector was also aboard the Vikram lander.<\/p>\n<p>Although the landing attempt apparently ended in failure, Chandrayaan 2\u2019s orbiter remains healthy and is just starting its one-year science mission.<\/p>\n<p>The orbiter&nbsp;carries eight scientific instruments, including a high-resolution stereo imaging camera, a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar look for evidence of water ice at the lunar poles, an imaging infrared spectrometer to aid in the search for water, and sensors to study the moon\u2019s tenuous atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>The orbiter was also to provide data relay services the Vikram lander.<\/p>\n<p>Developed at a cost of around $140 million, the Chandrayaan 2 mission is the most ambitious in the history of India\u2019s space program. It follows Chandrayaan 1, a lunar orbiter launched in 2008 that detected the first evidence of water ice hidden inside permanently-shadowed craters at the lunar poles.<\/p>\n<p>India has also placed a spacecraft in orbit around Mars, and the country\u2019s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is a workhorse for launching Indian Earth-observing missions and numerous commercial CubeSats and microsatellites from international customers.<\/p>\n<p>Most of ISRO\u2019s programs focus on environmental observation, weather forecasting and communications, services that aid the country\u2019s population of more than 1.3 billion people.<\/p>\n<p>But ISRO has expanded its portfolio over the last decade, with lunar and Mars missions, a quickening pace of rocket launches, and plans for a space capsule to carry Indian astronauts into orbit.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated at 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT) with Modi comments. A member of the Chandrayaan 2 team reacts after contact with the Vikram lander was lost Friday. Credit: ISRO Ground teams lost communication with India\u2019s first lunar landing mission moments before its scheduled touchdown on the moon Friday, and the robotic research craft [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2442,301,525,625,1561,2529,1563,2530],"class_list":["post-12959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-chandrayaan-2","tag-india","tag-isro","tag-moon","tag-planetary-science","tag-pragyan","tag-solar-system","tag-vikram"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}