K Sivan: Found the location of Lander Vikram

This screen grab taken from a live webcast by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on August 6, 2019 shows Vikram Lander before it is supposed to land on the Moon. - Chandrayaan-2 space exploration mission consisting of a lunar orbiter, a lander name

Bengaluru Karnataka: Chairperson of Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO, K Sivan on Sunday said that they has found the location of Lander Vikram, with which, the space agency lost communication moments before it was scheduled to make a soft-landing on the South Pole region of the moon. The orbiter has clicked a thermal image of the Lander. "We have found the location of Lander Vikram on lunar surface and orbiter has clicked a thermal image of Lander," K Sivan told news agency ANI over the phone.

However, the ISRO chief added that no communication has been established with the Lander yet. "We are trying to establish contact. It will be communicated soon," he added. He also maintained that it will be "premature to say anything. We are trying to establish contact with Vikram lander."

The lander Vikram was to land on the moon-s surface at 1.55 am on September 7, 2019. It had been descending for 12 minutes but three minutes before that, it lost contact with Earth. It was 2.1 km above the moon-s surface when it lost contact with the ground station at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru.

A success would have made India the fourth country to place a spacecraft on the moon after the then USSR, the U.S. and China. Also, India would have been the first country to reach close to the lunar south pole.

The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter on September 2. After revolving around the Earth-s orbit for nearly 23 days, the craft began its journey to the moon on August 14. The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22.

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