'Welcome, buddy' — Chandrayaan-2 orbiter contacts successor's lander

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, August 21

As planned by ISRO, two-way communication between Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter and Chandrayaan-3’s lander module has been established.

In a post on X today, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the orbiter sent a welcome message to Chandrayaan 3’s lander module comprising the lander “Vikram” and the rover “Pragyan”.

“Welcome, buddy!’ Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX (Mission Operations Complex) has now more routes to reach the LM,” ISRO said in a post on X.

Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft comprising orbiter, lander and rover was launched in 2019. While lander with a rover in its belly crashed into the moon’s surface, Pradan, the orbiter, was not affected by the mishap and is currently on 100 km x 100 km orbit around the moon.

ISRO Chairman S Somnath today met Atomic Energy and Space Minister Jitendra Singh and apprised him of the status and readiness of Chandrayaan-3 for the moon landing on Wednesday. The ISRO Chairman told the minister that all systems of Chandrayaan-3 are working perfectly and no contingencies are anticipated during landing. He said the health of Chandrayaan-3 was being continuously monitored.

Jitendra Singh expressed his confidence in the success of Chandrayaan-3 and scripting a new page in the history of planetary exploration.

Success of Chandrayaan-3 would make India the first country to land on lunar south pole, which is thought to contain frozen water making it possible to sustain human life and is of special interest to scientists. Japan, Israel, UAE, and most recently Russia, have tried and failed to land on the lunar south pole.