The country will probably have to wait for a
future mission to join the elite club of nations that have landed on the moon.
By Jeffrey Gettleman, Kenneth
Chang, Kai Schultz and Hari Kumar
 |
|
Silence
fell on the control room of the Indian Space Research Organization in
Bangalore as
communications from the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-2
moon mission were
lost. Jagadeesh Nv/EPA, via Shutterstock
|
BANGALORE,
India — India’s attempt to
land a robotic spacecraft near the moon’s South Pole on Saturday appeared to
end in failure.
The initial parts of the descent went
smoothly. But less than two miles above the surface, the trajectory diverged
from the planned path. The mission control room fell silent as communications
from the lander were lost. A member of the staff was seen patting the back of
K. Sivan, the director of India’s space program.
He later announced that the spacecraft was
operating as expected until an altitude of 2.1 kilometers, or 1.3 miles. “The
data is being analyzed,” he said.
The partial failure of the Chandrayaan-2
mission — an orbiter remains in operation — would delay the country’s bid to
join an elite club of nations that have landed in one piece on the moon’s
surface.
If the spacecraft crashed — although a
communications glitch was also possible — it occurred during a period that Dr.
Sivan had called “15 minutes of terror.” A series of steps had to be completed
by computers on board the spacecraft in the correct sequence, with no
opportunity for do-overs.
This was the third attempted spacecraft
landing on the moon this year. In January, China landed the first probe ever on
the far side of the moon. The lander and accompanying rover have been operating
since then.
An Israeli nonprofit sent a small robotic
spacecraft named Beresheet to the moon, but its landing attempt in April went
awry in a manner similar to Chandrayaan-2. The initial descent went as planned,
but then communications were lost near the surface. It was later discovered
that a command to shut off the engine was incorrectly sent.
Chandrayaan-2 launched in July, taking a
long, fuel-efficient path to the moon. Earlier this week, the 3,200-pound
lander, named Vikram after Vikram A. Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space
program, separated from the orbiter and maneuvered toward the moon’s surface.
Fifteen minutes before the planned landing,
the Vikram lander was traveling at more than 2,000 miles per hour at an
altitude of about 20 miles. Four of its engines fired to quickly slow it down
as it headed toward its landing site on a high, flat plain near the South Pole.
Later in the landing process, it appeared that Vikram was descending too fast
and then data from the spacecraft ended.
The moon is littered with the remains of
spacecraft that have tried and failed to land in one piece. Two American craft,
from the robotic Surveyor series that helped blaze the trail for Apollo,
crashed in the 1960s. Several probes from the Soviet Luna program also collided
with the moon’s surface.
The makers of Beresheet and Chandrayaan-2
both noted the low cost of their missions — $100 million to $150 million, which
is much cheaper than those typically launched by NASA and the European Space
Agency. NASA is currently trying to tap into entrepreneurial innovation for
upcoming robotic moon missions; the first of these low-cost trips is scheduled
to launch in 2021.
The outcomes of the Indian and Israeli
missions highlight that lower costs can mean higher risk of failure, which NASA
will need to adjust to as it pursues a lower-cost approach.
While India may not have stuck the landing on
its first try, its attempt highlighted how its engineering prowess and decades
of space development have combined with its global ambitions.
It remains to be seen what the crash will
mean in India’s domestic politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country’s
nationalist leader, has embraced the country’s space program to raise India’s
brand on the global stage and make Indians feel fired up about their nation’s
growing strength.
“This is all about national pride,’’ said
Pallava Bagla, co-author of a book about Indian space exploration and a
dedicated space journalist.
Applause swept through viewing parties in
Bangalore for most of the lander’s descent. At the command center, scientists
rose to their feet as they tracked the mission’s progress. When communication
was abruptly lost, Sathya Narayanan, 21, an educator with Astroport, a group in
Bangalore that spreads awareness about astronomy, said his heart dropped.
“At this point, it is a partial failure,” he
said. “We will push until the end.”
While the mission may briefly soften the
muscular nationalism espoused by Mr. Modi, whose government is already facing
challenges from job losses and international criticism of his recent moves in
the disputed territory of Kashmir, the prime minister tried to reframe
Saturday’s landing attempt as an opportunity for improvement in brief remarks after
contact was lost.
Hours later and back at the space center in
Bangalore, the prime minister greeted the scientists, engineers and staff of
the space agency after delivering a motivational speech that was broadcast
nationally in India. He stopped short of stating explicitly that the lander had
failed.
“We came very close, but we will need to
cover more ground in the times to come,” he said.
Later in his address, Mr. Modi added, “As
important as the final result is the journey and the effort. I can proudly say
that the effort was worth it and so was the journey.”
Space has become a popular topic in India.
In some Indian cities, posters for
Chandrayaan-2 have been plastered on giant billboards. Schoolchildren in space
classes are launching rockets made from empty plastic soda bottles. In July,
when India sent up the rocket carrying the lander, millions watched the live
broadcasts of the rocket cutting into the sky on top of a funnel of fire.
The moon mission has been years in the making
for ISRO, India’s version of NASA, founded in 1969, when components of rockets
were transported by bicycles and assembled by hand.
Hundreds of millions of Indians still live
deep in poverty; India’s philosophy is that space development can be used for
human development. Its satellites help predict storms and save countless lives
by sending out early warnings. And it hopes future business opportunities in
space will create more work that lifts up more Indians.
While the landing may have failed, India
could try for the moon again. And it also plans to build future robotic
explorers headed for Venus, Mars and the sun. In the next decade, it intends to
send Indian astronauts into Earth orbit aboard its own spacecraft for the first
time.
_____
Jeffrey Gettleman reported from New Delhi,
Hari Kumar and Kai Schultz from Bangalore and Kenneth Chang from New York.
