Chandrayaan 2 is 98 per cent successful, no contact with Vikram yet: ISRO chief

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Sivan said that Chandrayaan 2 has achieved 98 per cent of its objectives, but they are yet to establish any communication with lander 'Vikram'. "We could not establish any communication with the lander yet. The project was developed in two parts — science and technology demonstration. We achieved total success in science objective while in technology demonstration, the success percentage was almost full. That's why the project can be termed as 98 per cent successful," Sivan told media on Saturday.

The ISRO chairman who was in Bhubaneswar to attend the 8th Convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), said that the scientists are trying to analyse the lapses, to know what exactly went wrong with the lander. "Orbiter continues to perform scheduled science experiments to complete satisfaction. There are eight instruments in the orbiter and each instrument is doing exactly what it meant to do," he added.

"The orbiter was initially planned for a year, but with the optimum mission planning there is every possibility that it will last for another seven and a half years benefiting us for science experiments," said the ISRO chief.

Speaking on the next mission, Sivan said the next priority is Gaganyaan mission. "We are trying to set the target of achieving this mission by the next year. For this, we are working on different options. But first of all, we have to understand what really happened to the lander. This is our first priority now," informed the ISRO chief.