BENGALURU: International space experts and media around the world on Saturday called the communication loss with Vikram lander a "partial loss" and said "all is not lost" as the orbiter with key scientific instruments on board is still circling Moon's orbit.
Former US astronaut and space analyst Jerry M Linenger said, “India was trying to do something very, very difficult. Everything was going as planned as the lander came down. Unfortunately, it never quite made it to the hover point. That would be at an altitude of about 400 metre if it had made it to that point, and even if it had not succeeded beyond that, it would have been helpful because the radar altimeters and lasers could have been tested. This would obviously be very helpful for follow-on missions. Overall, the mission has been very successful."
He said, "The orbiter will continue to downlink very valuable information for the next year. And by all indications, all systems are go on the orbiter. I look forward to watching complete success in the future based upon lessons learned from this bold attempt.”
Writer and managing editor of Nasa Spaceflight Chris G said, "The orbiter is where 95 per cent of the experiments are. The orbiter is safely in lunar orbit and performing its mission. This is not a total failure. Not at all," Chris G tweeted.
Israel, whose Beresheet lander crashlanded in April this year, too responded positively about the
Chandrayaan-2
mission. Israel ambassador Ron Malka tweeted, "Take pride India and have courage. This is a great achievement and it is not the end. Israel is no stranger to the stumbling blocks on the way to a soft landing and we know India will try again and complete the last step. We will see you there. #IndiaOnTheMoon"
Most of the world newspapers did not call India's mission a total failure.
"All is not lost for the mission", the online edition of US magazine 'Wired' said on Vikram's "deviation from its expected trajectory". The New York Times lauded India's "engineering prowess and decades of space development have combined with its global ambitions
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Jodha Akbar
