Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Chandrayaan-2: India's Vikram Lander Presumed to Have Crashed

posted by chromas on Saturday September 07 2019, @03:20AM   Printer-friendly

takyon writes:

ISRO lose contact with Chandrayaan-2 lander during final descent

Following a historic July 22 launch on a GSLV Mk-III rocket from the east coast of India, the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft – the robotic lander and rover, specifically – attempted a soft landing on the surface of the Moon on Friday. All was proceeding to plan until just 2km above the surface when telemetry was lost and the vehicle will have likely crashed into the lunar surface.

[...] The Vikram lander was aiming to softly touch down about 350 kilometers (218 miles) away from the South Pole-Aitken Basin rim on Friday evening. However, with all proceeding to plan, including the braking phase of the mission ahead of final descent, telemetry was lost.

[...] Although no explanation was provided, it is clear the mission has failed.

Also at NYT and India Today.

Previously: Chandrayaan-2 Updates: Lunar Orbit Insertion and Lunar Orbit Maneuver

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Chandrayaan-2: India's Vikram Lander Presumed to Have Crashed | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 26 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by legont on Saturday September 07 2019, @04:13AM (6 children)

    by legont (4179) on Saturday September 07 2019, @04:13AM (#890831)

    How Soviets managed to do it in 1966 - almost exactly 53 years ago.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by istartedi on Saturday September 07 2019, @05:23AM (1 child)

    by istartedi (123) on Saturday September 07 2019, @05:23AM (#890849) Journal

    The USSR had extensive experience building ICBMs. They were the first to launch a satellite, and to put a man in orbit. I'd say it was their experience, combined with parts that were using "old school" technology that might have been more robust. India hasn't even launched a crewed mission with their own rockets yet, so as far as experience is concerned the USSR was ahead of where India is now.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 08 2019, @03:07AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 08 2019, @03:07AM (#891152)

      Fact alert:

      There was/is something particularly difficult for landing a.. lander... at this surface of the moon. India and Russia entered an agreement some years ago where India was supposed to build the orbiter and Russia was supposed to build lander. Then Russia gave up and pulled out of the agreement after which India said it will do the lander itself. So it is not like Russia has the know-how. But I think India will get there.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @05:24AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @05:24AM (#890851)
    With technology [mentallandscape.com] that is more rad hard than silicon: with vacuum tubes. Transistors in 70-s were only good enough for portable broadcast receivers. Professionals used tubes [antiqueradio.org].

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 07 2019, @01:48PM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday September 07 2019, @01:48PM (#890959) Journal

    I was wondering just how many have made it into the elite social club of landing someone/something on the moon. So far, it's just the USSR, China, and the US, right? And, similar to the US, the Russians haven't been back for a re-do in decades. That makes China the only recent success, I believe.

    --
    “I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz

    • (Score: 2) by legont on Saturday September 07 2019, @05:07PM

      by legont (4179) on Saturday September 07 2019, @05:07PM (#891014)

      Russians wanted to do Fobos and failed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fobos-Grunt [wikipedia.org] (the last success of interplanetary mission was Vega 2 in 1985

      The managers of the project blame it on the US sabotage though.

      Initially, the head of Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin, suggested that the Fobos-Grunt failure might have been the result of sabotage by a foreign nation.[68][69] He also stated that risky technical decisions had been made because of limited funding. On 17 January 2012, an unidentified Russian official speculated that a U.S. radar stationed on the Marshall Islands may have inadvertently disabled the probe, but cited no evidence.[70] Popovkin suggested the microchips may have been counterfeit,[71][72] then he announced on 1 February that a burst of cosmic radiation may have caused computers to reboot and go into a standby mode.[73][74]

      --
      "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @01:54PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @01:54PM (#890963)

    How Soviets managed to do it in 1966 - almost exactly 53 years ago.

    It was a lot easier. Software project managers hadn't been invented yet.