ISRO scientists work to decode Chandrayaan-2 lander failure
Increased horizontal velocity may have cast lander away, suggests scientist
08/09/2019 , Madhumathi D.S., BENGALURU
Words of solace: PM Modi consoles ISRO Chairman K. Sivan in Bengaluru after the link with the lander was lost. PTIPTI
Hours after India’s dream of placing a lander spacecraft on the moon crashed on Saturday morning, Indian Space Research Organisation’s teams associated with the still orbiting Chandrayaan-2 mission were looking for clues in the last minutes of data from the lander Vikram.
The lander was to have set itself down on the moon's surface at 1.55 a.m. on Saturday. It had been descending for 12 minutes. However, three minutes before lunar touch down, it lost contact with the earth and went blank. It was 2.1 km above the moon’s surface then, ISRO said soon after it detected the setback around 2 a.m.
Possible causes
On what went wrong, a senior space scientist, who has worked on all three ISRO planetary missions, said an increased horizontal velocity might have cast the lander away from the planned site (shown with red lines on the consoles) causing ISRO to lose its link with the lander. “The search for it may be wider now. Only subsequent visits of the orbiter should tell us where it is,” he said.
He suspected that instead of losing velocity as it came down, the lander may have gained velocity at some point. It may also have lost its orientation or attitude (orientation/tilt) — which then increased its velocity. An attitude loss or tilt can also cause a loss of link or telemetry. Add to it the already working speed and moon's gravity — and it could have crashed to death from a height of 2 km, he said.
Although the terrain between two craters was mapped well, obstruction by hills or sand high rises could not be ruled out, according to him.
Increased horizontal velocity may have cast lander away, suggests scientist
08/09/2019 , Madhumathi D.S., BENGALURU
Words of solace: PM Modi consoles ISRO Chairman K. Sivan in Bengaluru after the link with the lander was lost. PTIPTI
Hours after India’s dream of placing a lander spacecraft on the moon crashed on Saturday morning, Indian Space Research Organisation’s teams associated with the still orbiting Chandrayaan-2 mission were looking for clues in the last minutes of data from the lander Vikram.
The lander was to have set itself down on the moon's surface at 1.55 a.m. on Saturday. It had been descending for 12 minutes. However, three minutes before lunar touch down, it lost contact with the earth and went blank. It was 2.1 km above the moon’s surface then, ISRO said soon after it detected the setback around 2 a.m.
Possible causes
On what went wrong, a senior space scientist, who has worked on all three ISRO planetary missions, said an increased horizontal velocity might have cast the lander away from the planned site (shown with red lines on the consoles) causing ISRO to lose its link with the lander. “The search for it may be wider now. Only subsequent visits of the orbiter should tell us where it is,” he said.
He suspected that instead of losing velocity as it came down, the lander may have gained velocity at some point. It may also have lost its orientation or attitude (orientation/tilt) — which then increased its velocity. An attitude loss or tilt can also cause a loss of link or telemetry. Add to it the already working speed and moon's gravity — and it could have crashed to death from a height of 2 km, he said.
Although the terrain between two craters was mapped well, obstruction by hills or sand high rises could not be ruled out, according to him.
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