Bengaluru: Lander Vikram stood poised delicately above the Moon’s surface on Friday night, preparing for a final lunar descent that will take it out of the control of human minders huddled in Bengaluru’s ground control.
A tight security ring girded the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro’s) Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network station ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival on Friday night to watch Vikram make a soft-landing near the Moon’s south pole, scheduled for 1.40 am.
“These are very crucial few hours, everyone is engaged,” said one of the women scientists, as she went into the control station. More than 500 scientists were in the building—a large number of them women—in preparation for the final hours before landing.
Nervous excitement hung in the air, but there was also palpable confidence and optimism.
“Wait for just a few more hours. Tomorrow, the entire team of Chandrayaan-2 will speak to you all,” said a senior scientist, responding to frantic requests from journalists.
Those few more hours will be crucial to India’s space exploration ambitions.
Minutes before Vikram’s descent, from around 35km above the Moon’s surface, it will begin scanning the surface of its chosen landing site and matching them with images already stored in its memory.
Freed of human control from this point onwards, Vikram will decide on the perfect image match.
If the images don’t match, it will begin scanning again, and again, until it is fully satisfied. Once it has landed, marking a first in space history, the six-wheeled rover Pragyan will begin its mission—to scour the lunar surface and gather scientific data.
Spirits were high on Friday night at Isro.
The premier space agency kept the momentum going on social media, trying to capture the hopes of billions of Indians with a cartoon shared via its Twitter handle, wherein the orbiter is wishing Vikram a hearty good luck before its crucial touchdown.
“It was great travelling with you so far Vikram. It was quite a journey indeed. Best of luck! I hope you reach the South Pole soon,” the orbiter says in the conversation. “I’ll see you around—in the orbit.”
Modi urged India to watch the final moments of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. “I’m extremely excited to be at the Isro Centre in Bengaluru to witness the extraordinary moment in the history of India’s space programme. This mission manifests the best of Indian talent and spirit of tenacity,” he said ahead of the final touchdown.
Modi will watch the event with over 70 students from different states, who were selected through an online space quiz, besides a few students from Bhutan. “India, and the rest of the world will yet again see the exemplary prowess of our space scientists,” Modi added.
The last update indicated that the health of Lander Vikram was normal.
While India has been to the Moon, this is the first time that it attempted a soft landing on the lunar surface.
The tension was evidently building up as the countdown neared completion. The mission, launched on 22 July, had reached closest to the Moon and was all set to script a historic chapter in its space journey.
ISTRAC, from where the Chandrayaan-2 team monitored the last phase of the mission, provides tracking support for all the satellite and launch vehicle missions of Isro.
Both mission director Ritu Karidhal and project director Muthayya Vanitha were present, along with Isro chairman Dr K. Sivan.
Vikram and the orbiter have been travelling in different orbits ever since separating from each other on 2 September. Chandrayaan-2 is India’s second mission to the Moon and is entirely indigenous, since all the three components of the spacecraft, including the orbiter, Vikram and Pragyan, have been designed and developed by Indian scientists. The mission was launched on 22 July aboard the GSLV Mk-111 rocket.
