Speech by Prime Minister of India seems to point to the crash of the lost lunar lander

Prime Minister Modi of India praised the personnel behind the Chandrayaan-2 moon mission for their work, perhaps for comfort. Contact with the lander was lost on the descent to the moon and it looks very likely that the lander has crashed.

Modi stated in the speech that “we came very close, but we need to take more steps in the coming time” and “the best is yet to come”. The seven-minute speech to the control room crew sounds very heartening, though the prime minister is silent on the fate of the lander.

Mission Control lost contact with the Vikram lander late Friday night while it was making its descent. At the time of last contact, the lander was 2.1 kilometers above the moon. The Indian Space Research Organization is not yet making any further statements about what happened and is keeping it on Twitter for the time being on “the data is being analysed”. The lander was disconnected on September 2 and the mission launch was in late July.

The orbiter from the Chandrayaan-2 mission, however, has one more mission besides releasing the lander. The probe has a lifespan of one year, during which time it will take pictures of the lunar surface and take measurements to look for signs of water ice. The US, the former Soviet Union and China are the countries that have successfully performed a soft landing on the moon to date. In addition to a moon landing, India eventually also wants to launch its own astronauts and build its own space station.

The beginning of the English part of the speech