If contact cannot be re-established within today, the Vikram lander will likely be left alone on the coldest and darkest side of the moon, with no hopes of human contact.
Saturday marks the last day for scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the window of opportunity to re-establish contact with Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander, as announced by the premier space agency earlier.
Every night on the moon lasts as long as 14 Earth days, astronomers had found. Since September 19, the sunlight that is reflected on the Moon's south pole has consistently been decreasing. According to calculations, there won't be any light on the region where Vikram hard-landed after September 21, i.e. today, which therefore marks the last date to re-establish contact with Chandrayaan-2's lander.
Scientists know that Vikram would not be able to function at all after the region blacks out. This is because of the indigenously-developed lander functioning entirely on sunlight due to its solar panels. Keeping this in mind, the process for Chandrayaan-2's descent was initiated on September 7, and it was calculated that the lander's lifespan would be 14 Earth Days, i.e. until September 21, following which the Pragyaan rover was supposed to roll out of the lander and begin its discover and scientific data gathering work on the lunar surface.
The communication link with Vikram was lost on September 7. After this, scientists at ISRO and even at US' premier space organisation National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had consistently been attempting to re-establish contact, but to no success.
Earlier, NASA had announced that it will come to the aid of ISRO and join in on the attempt to reconnect with Vikram. On September 12, American astronomer Scott Tilley had on Twitter posted regarding his revamped attempt to re-establish contact with Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander using NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). Earlier in 2005, when NASA had, in a similar manner, lost contact with one of its artificial satellites, Tilley had been actively involved in the reconnection process.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the orbiter operated by NASA, even took pictures of the landing sites in dim light and the organisation is trying to find the exact location of the Vikram Lander using these photographs. However, the pixelated photographs taken by the orbiter makes it more difficult for NASA to find the lander.
The Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission, if completed successfully, would have made India the fourth country in the world to land a rover on the moon. It also would have been the only country to land a rover on the south pole region of the moon.
However, if contact cannot be re-established within today, the Vikram lander will likely be left alone on the coldest and darkest side of the moon, with no hopes of human contact.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Chandrayaan-2: Scientists at ISRO and NASA are eager to reconnect with Vikram lander")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}