NASA joins ISRO to aid in establishing contact with Vikram moon lander

World Thursday 12/September/2019 16:12 PM
By: Times News Service
NASA joins ISRO to aid in establishing contact with Vikram moon lander

Chennai: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is continuing its attempt to reach out to moon lander Vikram which was a part of the Chandrayaan 2 project by sending communication signals with its Deep Space Network (DSN), ISRO officials said.

It is also reported the American space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is sending radio signals to Vikram.

"Attempts are being made to reestablish communication links with the moon lander Vikram. The attempts will be made till September 20-21 when sunlight will be there in the area where the Vikram has landed," an ISRO official preferring anonymity said.

Scott Tilley, an amateur astronomer who found American weather satellite IMAGE in 2018 that was considered to be lost, on 10 September, tweeted: "#DSN 24 beams 12KW of RF at the #Moon in hopes of stimulating #Chandrayaan2's lander #VikramLander into communicating with home.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday said officials of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) visited its headquarters and met its Chairman K. Sivan.

In a statement ISRO said: "Professor David Tirrell, Provost of California Institute of Technology, USA visited ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore and met K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space (DOS) on September 11, 2019."

Tirrell was accompanied by General Larry James, Deputy Director of JPL and other senior officials from CalTech, ISRO said.

However, the statement is silent on the purpose of the meeting.

The Indian space agency will launch a satellite built by the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in collaboration with CalTech.

"The IIST is designing a satellite along with California Institute of Technology," Sivan had told IANS early this year.

While ISRO has been putting into orbit satellites built by Indian universities and educational institutions since 2009, the non-building of a satellite by IIST was noticeable.

The IIST is an autonomous body under the Department of Space and is a deemed university inaugurated in 2007.