INDIA'S MOON MISSION INVERSE

INDIA was left red faced with embarrassment as its its ambition to become the fourth country to land on the moon ended with failure.

In a viral video on social media, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen consoling and hugging a distraught K Sivan, the head scientist at Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] soon after landing went awry.

The country is aiming to join the United States, Soviet Union/Russia and China as the only nations to have soft-landed on the moon.

But the dream turned sour with loss of contact with the Chandrayaan-2 mission lander during the final stages of the September 6 landing attempt.

A live stream from the ISRO showed Vikramm Lander making its descent as planned from its previous 36 by 110-kilometer orbit down to a fine braking phase below six kilometers.

However, footage illustrating the spacecraft's descent trajectory stopped just short of reaching the surface. After minutes of silence, ISRO chairman announced that communications with the lander  had been lost.

No further information was immediately available and the fate of the lander remains uncertain. Reports now say, that the lander lies tilted and dormant on to its side.

The World Students Society firmly believes, that the most likely cause was that the Lander just could not process the  Data Load streaming in. That could have very well caused the Lander to go confused and turn into a simple  brain-dead, projectile. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was present at ISRO mission operation complex at Bengaluru, told press following the communications loss ''that it is no small thing that we have achieved. Be courageous.''

The landing attempt continues a surge of lunar related activity in 2019, following a failed safe landing attempt by the Israeli spacecraft in April and China's  unprecedented January far side landing.

The United States in March announced plans to accelerate a human lunar program with the target of a first landing in 2024.

ISRO chairman told Indian media in the run up to the event 'the complex process'' of final approach and autonomous landing would be ''15 minutes of terror.''

It turn out his prediction was not off the mark [Ed: The Express Tribune]