So far only three countries have successfully land on the Moon : Russia , the United States , andChina . Israel’sBeresheet landerattempted to do so back in April , but was ultimately unsuccessful and ended upleaving grand of tiny tardigradeson the Moon ’s surface . This weekend it wasIndia ’s spell to set about a lunar landingto search the South Pole , and while the berth is still developing , it does n’t face too ripe .

India has confirm the Vikram lander has been spotted by its lunar artificial satellite , Chandrayaan-2 . The lander appeared to have touched down intact on the open of our natural satellite but it was a hard landing . According to the Indian Space Research Organization ( ISRO ) , it seems that Vikram is tilt , a possible consequence of whatever happened in the last bit of the final descent . It was designed to safely land on slopes of up to 12 level , but it is unclear at this moment if that limit has been breached .

Dr K.   Sivan , the director of ISRO , confirmed in an announcementthat   Vikram stop communicate when it was about 2.1 kilometers ( 1.3 mi ) from the surface of the Moon on Friday , September 6 . It ended up just 500 metre ( 1,640 feet ) from the planned landing site .

" Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal carrying into action was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 klick , " Sivan said . " later the communication theory from the lander to the land station was lost . The information is being analyze . "

Sivan told theTimes of Indiaon Saturday , September 8 , the mission would retain to assay contacting the lander for 14 days .

" It had a heavily - landing place very nigh to the planned ( feeling - down ) site as per the images sent by the on - board camera of the orbiter . The lander is there as a unmarried patch , not break into pieces . It ’s in a tilted position , " an ISRO interpreter state , reportsIndia Today . " We are make all - out exploit to see whether communication can be re - build with the lander . "

The squad is likely optimistic about chances of re - establishing contact with the lander , but the hope rest on the premiss that nothing got broken in the landing place . It ’s expected to have plenty of power either from its solar panels and batteries . A essential issuance is if the antenna is no longer pointing at either the primer coat station or the satellite .

The lander ’s name , Vikram , means Valour . It ’s is name after Vikram Sarabhai , who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian Space program . It was bear to work for an entire lunar day ( equivalent to 14 days ) and to release its rover , Pragyan , which means sapience . The lander has a rooms of instruments to study seismal activity , temperature , and the blood plasma that form on the Earth’s surface of the Moon .

The lander and rover duo are just one part of theChandrayaan-2 commission , the first to train to research the South Pole area of the Moon . The spacecraft was launch last July 22 . It will carry on its missionary post of function the lunar surface as well as explore its chemic opus of the mien of water supply .

[ H / T : India Today , Space.com ]