All is not lost for Chandrayaan-2 as orbiter to give crucial mission data: Aastha Talwar

Astronaut and space expert Aastha Talwar stated that all is not lost for Chandrayaan-2 as it would continue to explore the moon with the help of orbiter that remains in orbit around the moon.

New Delhi: India may have missed the opportunity to attempt a historic soft-landing on the moon, but Chandrayaan-2 would continue to explore the moon with the help of orbiter that remains in the orbit around the moon.

Talking to ETV Bharat, Astronaut and space expert Aastha Talwar said that all is not lost as the mission was 95% successful and orbiter will continue to explore the moon.

"The lander Vikram's control would have ended when its thrusters would have been switched off while landing and its telemetry system would have stop functioning following the crash," said Talwar.

Stating another reason of signal breakdown, She said that the lander might have reached the South Pole and the orbiter would not be able to provide its data to ISRO due to contact breakdown during landing.

On asking whether ISRO will prepare for Chandrayaan-3 now? To this, she said that ISRO is still to get all the data. Once all the data will be available then only anything can be said on this.

Talking on Gaganyaan Mission 2022, she said, "ISRO will review and rectify the mistakes of Chandrayaan-2 which will help in Gaganyaan Mission and it will surely be a success.

It is to be noted that In the last stage snag, the communication link between the moon lander and the orbiter got snapped as the former was descending towards the moon's South Pole early on Saturday.