Skip to main content

India loses communication with Chandrayaan-2 moon lander

India Moon Landing
The mission control crew looks on as India’s space agency loses contact with its moon lander. ISRO

India’s space agency lost contact with its Chandrayaan-2 moon lander Friday as it attempted to do what it was made for: Land on the moon.

Recommended Videos

The robotic lander — nicknamed Vikram — attempted to descend to the moon’s south pole just after 1 p.m. PT, making it part of the way before the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) lost communication with it. The agency ended its livestream of mission control shortly after it lost contact with the spacecraft — but not before showing the despondent-looking faces of the mission control crew back on Earth.

It’s not clear whether the lander actually made it to the surface of the moon — we’ve asked the ISRO for more information, but it’s unlikely even they know the status of the lander. It could have crash-landed, or possibly is just experiencing a communication failure. Signals from the lander cut out as it entered its final braking phase and hit an altitude of 2.1 kilometers, or 1.3 miles, above the moon’s surface.

“Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km,” the ISRO wrote on Twitter. “Subsequently, communication from Lander to the ground stations was lost. Data is being analyzed.”

This is Mission Control Centre. #VikramLander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, communication from Lander to the ground stations was lost. Data is being analyzed.#ISRO

— ISRO (@isro) September 6, 2019

The incident — it’s not quite safe to call it a crash yet — took place during what India space program director K. Sivan described as the “15 minutes of terror,” a computer-controlled sequence that the lander only had one shot to get right. Unfortunately, it looks like those 15 minutes didn’t go well.

India had wanted to become the fourth country to land on the surface of the moon, joining Russia, China, and the United States. The lander carried a rover that was meant to explore the moon’s south pole and search for signs of water.

If the lander did crash, it would be the second one to hit the moon’s surface this year. In April, Israel’s uncrewed Beresheet spacecraft crashed just minutes before it was due to touch down. Several other countries have their own moon missions in the works, including China, Russia, Japan, and Israel.

The Chandrayaan-2 mission is not a complete failure at this point — there’s still an orbiter above the moon, which will remain there for about a year and send valuable data back to Earth.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with the latest information.

Mathew Katz
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mathew is a news editor at Digital Trends, specializing in covering all kinds of tech news — from video games to policy. He…
See the Intuitive Machines lander on its side on the moon (again)
An artist’s concept of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander on the Moon’s South Pole.

American company Intuitive Machines attempted its second lunar landing yesterday, aiming to bring its Athena spacecraft down in the Mons Mouton region near the moon's south pole. The lander did touch down 250 meters from its intended site, marking the most southerly landing on the moon ever.

Sticking the landing, however, proved to be a problem. Intuitive Machines has confirmed that although Athena did manage to land on the lunar surface, it is oriented on its side and therefore unable to capture power with its solar panels. It's not year clear exactly what caused the lander to tip over as it came down on the surface, but it is possible that it got caught on the edge of a crater or caught a leg on a boulder which caused it to tip an an angle.

Read more
There’s another spacecraft landing on the moon tomorrow — here’s how to watch
Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission lunar lander, Athena, entering lunar orbit on Monday, March 3.

It's a thrilling week for the moon: not only did this weekend see the landing of the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost mission, but there's another lunar landing happening imminently too. Intuitive Machines will attempt to touch down its Nova-C lander tomorrow, March 6, and NASA will be livestreaming the event so you can watch along from home.

Intuitive Machines-2 Lunar Landing (Official NASA Broadcast)
What to expect from the landing
This will be Intuitive Machines' second lunar landing, following it Odysseus mission last year. That spacecraft did successfully make a soft landing on the moon, but the lander tipped as it came down and ended up on its side on the lunar surface, which limited its ability to collect power using its solar panels. This time, the company will be hoping for a picture perfect landing on its second attempt, with a lander named Athena.

Read more
Watch incredible video of the Blue Ghost spacecraft landing on the moon
Still from the video of Blue Ghost's lunar landing.

This weekend Firefly Aerospace made history with the first fully successful moon landing by a private company, and now you can watch the moment the Blue Ghost lander touched down on the moon in stunning video footage.

Moon Landing - Firefly Blue Ghost Makes History

Read more