Chandrayaan 2 is a huge success: ISRO chief

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], Sept 21 (ANI): ISRO chairman K Sivan on Saturday said that the Chandrayaan 2 mission is a huge success.
"To undertake Chandrayaan 2 mission comprised a very large science component and a small technological demonstration component of performing soft landing near the south pole region of the moon. The bulk of the instruments to carry out the interplanetary science is in the orbiter," he said while addressing the eighth convocation ceremony at IIT Bhubaneswar.
"The orbiter was designed for only a year but due to optimal mission operations, the orbiter's life has increased to seven-and-a-half-years. This means that scientists will receive 7.5 times the data expected. I will say Chandrayaan 2 is a huge success. This will also result in the mapping of the entire lunar surface in great precision," Sivan remarked.
The ISRO chief underlined that in the soft-landing part, two mission phases were completed successfully till the altitude of 300 metres from the lunar surface.
"This validated all new technological elements of navigation sensors and propulsion. Therefore, excepting the soft landing, all other technologies were also validated," he said.
Earlier in the day, Sivan said that the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter is doing very well and the eight instruments in the orbiter are doing exactly what they are meant to do. He, however, added that communication is yet to be established with the Vikram lander.
"Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is doing very well. There are eight instruments in the orbiter and each instrument is doing exactly what it's meant to do. Regarding the lander, we have not been able to establish communication with it. Our next priority is Gaganyaan mission," he told reporters earlier.
On Thursday, ISRO informed that the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter is continuing to perform the mission to complete satisfaction while experts are still analysing the communication loss with Vikram lander.
Earlier this month, Sivan had stated that the orbiter had clicked a thermal image of the lander on the lunar surface.
The world witnessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi consoling Sivan after he failed to hold back his emotions following the loss of communication with the component on September 7.
This came after ISRO had announced that communication was lost with Vikram minutes before its soft landing on the far side of the moon.
Vikram lander had successfully separated from the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter on September 2. After revolving around the Earth's orbit for nearly 23 days. The craft had begun its journey to the moon on August 14.
The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22. (ANI)