Ever since the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced the launch of chandrayaan 2, its most ambitious mission till date, it had put just one caveat the crucial powered descent on the moon, which it was attempting for the first time.
India had been to the moon before with the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, which gave the world evidence of water molecules on the lunar surface. So, it was evident that the team was confident of accomplishing the feat again.
The crucial manoeuvres required to place a spacecraft into the desired moon orbit , the trans-lunar injection and lunar orbit insertion had gone precisely as planned for Chandrayaan-2. The inclination to the lunar surface was closer to precision. Lander Vikram had successfully separated from Orbiter and de-orbited to an elliptical orbit of 35 X 100 kms, from where it began the powered descent on Saturday.
But it was during the last phase of the mission which involved executing a soft landing on the moon - new to ISRO, that the results did not go as planned. In the days leading to the final event, ISRO chairman shivan had described the moments as "15 minutes of terror" when Lander Vikram would entirely be on its own, with no ground control to guide it.
On Saturday, during those 15 minutes the enthusiasm of the entire team turned into despair. Lander vikram lost all communication with the ground station during the last two minutes when it was just 2.1 km above the lunar surface.
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