India was trying to become the just 4th nation to pull off a soft landing on the moon following former soviet union, US, China and the only country to probe the unexplored lunar south pole. The moon lander’s descent was going as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently the communication from the lander to the ground stations was lost.
The Reasons for failure:
Soft landing on the moon, especially in the uncharted south polar region, is an incredibly complex and hard task.
It is because of the thin exosphere density and low gravity of the moon, coupled with harsh radiation.
Four of the propulsion engines were fired at the same time to lower its speed significantly.
Vikram could have lost its control when its thrusters were switched off during its descent and crash-landed, snapping the communication skills.
Arguments in favour:
Chandrayaan-2 has 95 % of its mission got accomplished.
It is possible that vikram may have landed but damaged or in a tilted position.The scientists trying to re-establish communication with the lander either through the orbiter or directly by mission control.
The mission not failed as the orbiter is functional in the designated orbit. It will use scientific payloads to continue studying and sending images and data mandated for its life span or as long as the fuel lasts which could be more than a year
Addressing the scientists, PM Narendra modi said that
determination to touch the moon has become even stronger. He said learnings
from today will make us stronger and better and the best is yet to come in our
space programme. ISRO is learning from
the mistakes and getting ready for the flagship programme Gaganyaan by the end
of 2020.
© 2016, Precisionacademy.in, All rights reserved
Precision Academy