ISRO, orbiter, lander, rover indulge in ‘banter’ ahead of touchdown

Team Udayavani, Sep 6, 2019, 5:16 PM IST

Bengaluru: Hours before the crucial touchdown of ‘Vikram’ module on the lunar surface in the early hours of Saturday, the Indian Space Research Organisation came out with the Chandrayaan-2 chronicles indulging in ‘banter’ involving the orbiter, lander and rover ‘Pragyan’.

Using a comic strip, the ISRO tweeted, showing orbitertelling the lander ‘Vikram’ that it enjoyed its company before it separated on September 2 afternoon.

“It was great travelling with you so far, Vikram,” the orbiter tells the moonlander.

‘Vikram’ reciprocated with the same gusto: “It was quite the journey indeed! I’ll see you around-in the orbit.”

Then, the orbiter wishes ‘Vikram’ good luck as the latter goes out of sight to discover the unexplored regions of the south pole of moon.

In the middle of the ‘conversation between orbiter and Vikram moon lander’, ISRO too extended its best wishes to both and said it will stay in touch with ‘Vikram’ and ‘Pragyan’.

“We have the same wishes for Vikram, Orbiter. Want to stay in touch with Vikram and Pragyan as they make their way to the untouched lunar South Pole and uncover its many mysteries,” ISRO tweeted.

The historic moon landing of ‘Vikram’ is planned take place on Saturday between 1.30 a.m and 2.30 a.m.

After the touchdown, the three payloads of ‘Vikram’ will be activated.

Subsequently, rover ‘Pragyan’ housed inside ‘Vikram’ will roll out to carry out investigations of the lunar soil with the help of its two payloads.

According to ISRO, ‘Pragyan’ can only communicate with the lander, while ‘Vikram’ has the capability to communicate with IDSN (Indian Deep Space Network) at Byalalu near Bengaluru, as well as with the orbiter and rover.