New Delhi: After Chandrayaan-2's Vikram module was located on the lunar surface on Sunday, Chandrayaan-1 Director Mylswamy Annadurai said that the obstacles on the lunar surface may have been stopping the lander Vikram from receiving signals.
"As we have located the lander on the lunar surface, we now have to establish contact with it. The place, where the lander alighted is expected to be not conducive enough for the lander to soft-land. There may be some obstacles, which could have been stopping us from establishing the connection," news agency ANI quoted Annadurai as saying.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan announced yesterday that lander Vikram has been located and it must have been a hard-landing, as opposed to the planned soft-landing. India's mission to soft-land on the moon suffered a setback with the 'Vikram' module losing communication with ground stations, just 2.1 km from the lunar surface during its final descent in the early hours of Saturday.
A thermal image of the lander, with rover 'Pragyan' housed inside it, was captured by on-board camera of Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which is healthy, safe and functioning normally in the intended orbit around the Moon.
Sivan, however, maintained that no communication has been established with the lander and that the agency will try to establish it in the next 14 days.
Speaking on the chance to establish communication, the Chandrayaan-1 director said, "In the past, the Chandrayaan's orbiter had beamed the signals towards the lander to establish signals, but in the present case, it has to be seen whether the latter receives it or not."
“There is always a two-way communication between the orbiter and lander, but we can attempt to communicate through one way,” Annadurai said. However, he further added that communication will not be for more than 5-10 minutes.
Expressing hope for future course of action, Annadurai said, "It is a tricky situation but our scientists are capable enough to handle it," he added.
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