- ITV Report
A 640 – tonneunmanned spacecraftlaunched by India last month has finallylanded on the Moon, however, there is confusion as to whether it was a success.
The country is waiting with bated breath on whether it will become the fourth nation to successfully land on the Moon, after the US, Russia and China.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) confirmed the spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 (meaning ‘Moon craft’ in Sanskrit), which has been in orbit for more than a month , had touched down but it was unable to say whether the landing was in one piece.
The lander ‘Vikram’ was supposed to land on the South Polar region of the Moon – a region that has not been visited before.
However, excitement quickly turned to anxiety when communications were lost shortly after.
The data is currently “being analyzed”, according to ISRO authorities.
A rover named ‘Pragyan’ – meaning ‘wisdom’ – was to be deployed to study permanently shadowed craters that are thought to contain 100 million tonnes of water .
The £ 113 million mission only had a 37% success rate, according to ISRO’s chairman Dr Kailasavadivoo Sivan.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at the IRSO center in Begaluru, tweeting that he was “witnessing history unfold!”
However, video footage later showed him speaking with the IRSO staff, reassuring them to “be courageous”.
At the@isroCenter in Bengaluru, witnessing history unfold!# Chandrayaan2pic.twitter.com/0W5kv7iP9c
& mdash; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi)September 6, 2019“data-on-all-screens=” true “>
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Determined to be a main contender in the Space Race, Modi has set a deadline of 2022 for India’s first manned spaceflight, and has pushed for the Chandrayaan-2 to be a success.
Earlier this year,the mission had to be delayed, less than an hour before takeoff.
Scientists had observed a “technical snag” in the vehicle and delayed the mission by a week.
India’s first spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 had to be rescued from failure in 2008, after one of its systems overheated and malfunctioned.
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