What does the 'open source information' says about Chandrayaan-2's Vikram Lander
The open platform of the US Space Agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Deep Space Network shows how NASA's observatories in the US and Australia are trying to communicate with Chandrayaan-2's lander and orbiter.
- NASA's efforts to contact Chandrayaan-2's orbiter and lander continue
- Vikram Lander's contact with mission control was lost just before landing on moon
Every effort is being made by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to make contact with Vikram Lander. Vikram Lander lost contact with mission control just before the scheduled soft landing on the moon. However, there has been no official statement from ISRO about the events for the last several days.
The Open Platform of the Deep Space Network (DSN) of the US space agency 'National Aeronautics and Space Administration' (NASA) is showing how NASA's observatories in the US and Australia are continuously trying to interact with Chandrayaan-2 lander and orbiter.
The DSN is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). DSN is showing live up-link and down-link between the observatory and the spacecraft.
Date - 11 September
Place - Goldstone Observatory, USA
Time - 1 pm to 5 pm
DSN first showed attempts to contact Goldstone Observatory and Chandrayaan's orbiter and lander in the Mojave Desert near California. On behalf of the network, the orbiter has been given the code name 'CH2O' and the lander has been given 'CH2L'. The initial phase shows that up-link communication was attempted between the Observatory and Vikram Lander.
A few moments later, an up-link signal between the Goldstone antenna and the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter appeared on the network.
The network clearly showed successful contact (both up-link and down-link) with the orbiter. However the down-link contact with the lander was not shown.
There was no successful contact with Vikram Lander in the process which lasted for four hours. However, some data was seen down-linked to Chandrayaan's orbiter.
Date - 12 September
Place- Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Station, Canberra, Australia
Time - 2.30 pm to 6 pm
The action shifted to Canberra, Australia on Thursday. There the Canberra Deep Space Communication, Earth Station was seen trying to contact Chandrayaan-2 lander and orbiter. The network was seen trying to up-link contact with the lander on behalf of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex.
Network data shows that the entire process lasted for about three and a half hours. No down-link contact with the lander was seen on the network. It is clear that the communication attempt failed.
Meanwhile, ISRO said in a statement that a delegation from California Institute of Technology (CalTech) visited ISRO headquarters on Wednesday. According to ISRO's statement, the provost, Prof. of CalTech. David Tirrell and Deputy Director General of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Larry James were present in the delegation. While the official statement from ISRO is awaited, there are no signs of contact with NASA's Deep Space Network of the lander.
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