Efforts On To Establish Contact With Lander Vikram: ISRO Tweets Update

BENGALURU — India has located Chandrayaan-2′s Vikram lander but has not been able to establish communication with it yet, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Tuesday.

The lander was making a “soft” or controlled landing near the South Pole of the moon on Saturday when it lost contact with ground control in the final stage of the descent.

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Space experts said the lander may have come down faster than planned and crash-landed on the moon, in a setback for India’s space program that has captivated millions of countrymen.

ISRO said the orbiter of Chandrayaan-2 had located the lander but it did not say whether it had been damaged.

“All possible efforts are being made to establish communication with lander,” the state-run space agency said on Twitter.

Only the United States, Russia and China have made landings on the moon. Beijing’s Chang’e-4 probe touched down on the far side this year. Scientists believe there could be water ice on the South Pole.