Chandrayaan 2: India reveals the mystery behind Vikram lander but its location is still unknown

• Singh told the Parliament that Vikram hard-landed within 500 metres of the designated landing site due change in velocity during the second phase. Vikram was aiming for a soft landing.
• Given the complete silence over the nearly 1,500 kg lander's whereabouts, the ISRO official raised questions like: Where is Vikram on the moon? When an airplane crashlands it leaves a trail -- Where is the Vikram trail?
• In the meanwhile, ISRO released a 3D image of craters.

The Indian government finally has an answer to what happened to Vikram — Chandrayaan 2’s lander.

“Vikram lander hard-landed as reduction in velocity during its descent did not match with the designed parameters,” the government said on Wednesday, However, the fate of Vikram after it landed on the moon, is still unknown.

“The first phase of descent was performed nominally from an altitude of 30 kms to 7.4 kms above the moon's surface and velocity was reduced from 1,683 metres per second to 146 metres per second,” says Jitendra Singh, the minister of state who looks after the department of space.

Singh told the Parliament that Vikram hard-landed within 500 metres of the designated landing site due change in velocity during the second phase. Vikram was aiming for a soft landing.

'ISRO should release all videos pertaining to Chandrayaan-2'

“The Indian space agency should release all the videos related to the Chandrayaan-2 mission, including that of the moon lander 1,471 kg Vikram separating from the Orbiter,” an ISRO official told IANS anonymously.

Given the complete silence over the nearly 1,500 kg lander's whereabouts, the ISRO official raised questions like: Where is Vikram on the moon? When an airplane crashlands it leaves a trail -- Where is the Vikram trail?

"But where is Vikram on the moon? An object weighing 1,471 kg and travelling at a speed of 146 m/s or about 530 km per hour would leave a devastating trail when it hits a surface and its parts strewn all over," the official told IANS.

According to him, there would have been a huge disturbance on the dusty moon surface. "An airplane when crash lands would travel several metres on its own due to its momentum. Similarly, Vikram too must have moved on its own when it crash landed on the moon," the official said.

He said the US space agency's lunar orbiter too, was not able to locate Vikram or its landing site. In the meanwhile, ISRO released a 3D image of craters.

Meanwhile, it is not known whether the expert committee — comprising of academicians and ISRO experts that has been set up to analyse the cause of communication loss with lander — has submitted its report or not.

On September 7, India came close to being the first nation to land near the moon’s South Pole but it lost contact with Chandrayaan 2’s lander, Vikram. The lander was descending toward the moon when it suddenly went off trajectory just 1.3 miles above the lunar surface.


(With inputs from PTI and IANS)