New Delhi, September 8: A day after India lost contact with its moon lander Vikram while descending on the lunar surface, ISRO Chief K Sivan announced that the space agency has traced the exact location of the Lander. On Sunday, Sivan informed that ISRO has got the first image of the moon lander Vikram, but a communication is yet to be established.  The communication with Vikram lander was lost moments before its planned landing on the south pole region of the moon. Sivan announced that communication with the Vikram lander was lost at just 2.1 km from the lunar surface. Chandrayaan 2 Heartbreak: PM Modi, Nation Backs Indian Scientists; Here's List of ISRO's Most Notable Achievements.

According to a tweet by ANI, Sivan was quoted saying that the orbiter has clicked a thermal image of Lander and the space agency was trying to have a contact. "We've found the location of Vikram Lander on lunar surface& orbiter has clicked a thermal image of Lander. But there is no communication yet. We are trying to have contact. It will be communicated soon", Sivan said.

Here's the tweet:

On Saturday, Sivan had said that the hopes are still alive and efforts to connect link with Chandrayaan 2's Vikram lander will continue for the next 14 days.  After the Lander lost contact with the ground stations on Saturday, the ISRO Chief could not hold his tears and broke down. In a very visible emotional outburst, Sivan was seen in tears. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was accompanied by the scientist on his way out of the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru, immediately hugged him and held him.

After revolving around the Earth's orbit for nearly 23 days, the spacecraft began its journey to the moon on August 14. The Vikram lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan 2 orbiter on September 2. Reports quoted an ISRO official saying that 95% of Chandrayaan-2 intact as orbiter flying around moon. This means only 5 per cent of the mission has been lost (Vikram the lander and Pragyan the rover),  while the remaining 95 per cent - that is the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter - is orbiting the moon successfully.

On Saturday, ISRO said that Chandrayaan-2's Orbiter, which is already in the intended orbit around the Moon, will send high-resolution images and enrich the understanding of Moon's evolution, mapping of minerals and water in its polar region.

The Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on July 22. It had an orbiter, lander, and rover to explore the unexplored south pole of the earth's natural satellite. The mission  was a highly complex mission, which represented a significant technological leap compared to the previous missions of ISRO to explore the unexplored south pole of the Moon. 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 08, 2019 01:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).