India’s ambitious mission to explore the south pole of the moon has been thwarted after engineers lost contact with a control unit on the lunar lander. The setback comes as a major disappointment for India, which had been hoping to become the first country to achieve a soft landing on the far side of the moon – an achievement that would have made it one step closer to its goal of becoming a space superpower.
Why India want to explore the south pole of the moon
One of the reasons India is interested in exploring the south pole of the moon is that it could contain valuable resources.
India has been working on a project called Chandrayaan-2, which is a lunar lander that will be sent to explore the south pole. Unfortunately, after losing contact with the control unit on Chandrayaan-2, it’s unclear what happened to it.
What went wrong with Chandrayaan-2’s lunar lander?
India’s bid to become the first country to explore the moon’s south pole has been thwarted after engineers lost contact with a control unit on Chandrayaan-2’s lunar lander.
Chandrayaan-2 was supposed to attempt to land on the moon’s south pole in order to study its icy environment. However, after landing on the moon, the lander lost contact with Earth.
Now, India is trying to figure out what went wrong. It is likely that the control unit failed, and this may have prevented Chandrayaan-2 from landing on the south pole.
If Chandrayayan-2 had been able to land on the south pole, it would have been an important step forward for India’s space program. India is currently the only country that has sent a spacecraft to orbit around the moon.
What it means for India’s moon mission
India’s bid to become the first country to explore the moon’s south pole has been thwarted after engineers on Earth lost contact with a control unit on Chandrayaan-2’s lunar lander.
The failure of the connection means that the lander will not be able to reach its planned landing site, which was located near the moon’s south pole. Instead, it will now attempt to land on a more favourable area.
This setback is a blow to India’s ambitious space programme, but it is not the end of Chandrayaan-2. The mission still has other objectives, including collecting data about the moon’s atmosphere and surface features.
The future of India’s space programme
India’s bid to become the first country to explore the moon’s south pole has been thwarted after engineers on Earth lost contact with a control unit on Chandrayaan-2’s lunar lander.
This is a setback for India’s space programme, as it was hoped that the moon could be used as a base for future missions to Mars. However, this latest setback may mean that the country will have to shelve its plans for an exploration of the south pole for now.
According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), engineers lost contact with the control unit around 10:30pm local time on Monday night. The unit is responsible for sending instructions to the lander and monitoring its status.
ISRO has not given a specific reason for why contact was lost, but officials say they are currently working to restore it. If successful, it is hoped that this will allow Chandrayaan-2 to launch again in early July and continue its journey towards the south pole.