Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander located, efforts on to re-establish contact, says ISRO

New Delhi, Sep 08: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Sivan said that the Chandrayaan-2 Vikram lander exact location has been located on the lunar surface, which had failed to touch down on the moon in the early hours of Saturday.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief, K Sivan said,''We've found the location of Vikram Lander on lunar surface and orbiter has clicked a thermal image of Lander. But there is no communication yet. We are trying to have contact. It will be communicated soon.''

As per the space agency, it has found the thermal image of the lander but has not been able to establish communicate with it yet.

ISRO has been able to identify the lander Vikram, but the condition of the lander is yet to be ascertained.

Scientists lost contact with the Lander Vikram just seconds before it was due to touch down, 2.1 km from the lunar surface towards the South Pole.

Notably, India's ambitious lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22. On August 20, the ISRO successfully fired the liquid engine of Chandrayaan-2 and inserted the spacecraft in the lunar orbit from the earth orbit.

Sivan had earlier said the planned life of the Orbiter, placed around the moon, has been enhanced to seven years as compared to a year as estimated earlier. "The Orbiter can function for 7.5 years and not a year as said before because of the fuel that is available," he said. "This will enable us to cover the entire globe of the moon."

Sivan said that the Chandrayaan-2's failed attempt at landing would not have a cascading effect on other projects of the space agency.

"No other project will be delayed. We will be going ahead with the Carto Sat project by the end of October, we are on course for completion of all our other projects, including Gaganyaan," he said. "The Gaganyaan mission will commence by the end of 2020."