The successful landing means India joins the countries to reach the Moon after the former Soviet Union, the US and China
Russia attempted a south pole landing, after 50 years of not trying for solar system interaction, but crashed their equipment, earlier this month. It was a surprise in light of the continuously successful international space station missions.
India’s lander carried a solar-powered rover, Pragyaan, which will explore the south pole and send data back to Earth over the next fortnight as it searches for ice.
If this proves possible to extract, it could be converted into drinking water or oxygen for astronauts, or broken down to provide rocket fuel.
India, which has firmly established itself in the latest space race, previously discovered water molecules and an atmosphere on the Moon in 2008.
One aspect of the event is a problem though, there has been no communication yet between orbiter and lander.
Indications that there might be a problem with the landing began once Vikram reached an altitude of 1.3 mile from the lunar surface. At this point, the lander began to deviate from its intended trajectory, which was followed by a loss of communications just as mission controllers expected to receive touchdown confirmation.
However, even if contact cannot be restored with the lander, the mission is hardly a write-off. The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is still operational and will remain in orbit around the Moon for the next seven years. Carrying on in the tradition of its predecessor, it will study the lunar surface using its suite of eight scientific instruments and the data will inform future ISRO missions.
However, even if contact cannot be restored with the lander, the mission is hardly a write-off. The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is still operational and will remain in orbit around the Moon for the next seven years. Carrying on in the tradition of its predecessor, it will study the lunar surface using its suite of eight scientific instruments and the data will inform future ISRO missions.
From 1958 to 2019, 109 moon missions were launched out of which 61 were successful and 48 were not. This indicates about 60% success rate for lunar missions launched by countries around the world.
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