Moonshot Ends in Failure for India and Its Water-Hunting Rover

(Bloomberg) -- India’s attempt to land a probe on the moon’s southern pole failed, dealing a major blow to its ambitious space program.

The country’s space agency lost communication with a lander and a rover near the satellite’s surface, minutes before a scheduled touchdown. The Chandrayaan-2 craft’s descent was normal until an altitude of 2.1 km (1.3 miles) before communication was lost early Saturday in India, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, K. Sivan, said in a televised broadcast.

Fifty years after Neil Armstrong’s fabled first steps on the lunar surface, India tried to become just the fourth nation to pull off a soft landing on the moon. Only the former Soviet Union, the U.S. and China have managed that without damaging their vehicles. Chandrayaan-2, which means “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit, had planned to analyze virgin territory on Earth’s closest neighbor for signs of water and helium-3.

Hours after the failed attempt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the attempt to land with dozens of school children from around the country, met top ISRO scientists in the mission control center in Bengaluru. In a televised speech invoking nationalism, Modi said India’s resolve to conquer space has only gotten stronger after the failure, and went on to comfort a teary-eyed Sivan with a long embrace.

“You came as close as you could. Stay steady and look ahead,” Modi said in the 25-minute speech. “Resilience and tenacity are central to India’s ethos.”

Chandrayaan-2 had captivated millions in India as the event turned into a symbol of national pride. On social media, Indians challenged each other to watch the landing rather than sleep, while neighbors planned late-night landing parties. At today’s prices, the mission cost less than 0.05% of the bill for the milestone voyage of Apollo 11 in 1969, which carried Armstrong and two other astronauts.

The Indian space agency will analyze data on the landing sequence, Sivan said. The mission also has a lunar orbiter that continues to take images of the moon and conduct other science experiments.

Its flight had suffered an inauspicious start: an initial launch attempt in mid-July was aborted minutes before liftoff because of a technical problem. The mission then launched July 22 and entered a lunar orbit on Aug. 20.

Space-faring nations, as well as billionaires Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson, are competing in an unofficial space race, from launching satellites to sending astronauts and tourists into space.

India and China are locked in a geopolitical space race of sorts as a way to assert regional dominance and establish a presence in space exploration. China was the first country to land a rover on the far side of the moon while India focused on being first at the southern pole, the same spot the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration is targeting in 2024 with its Artemis mission.

The lunar south pole has long been of interest to scientists. The surface is believed to contain essential resources, while permanently shadowed craters are thought to hold millions of tons of water. The hunt for helium-3, an isotope limited on Earth, is important because it’s so abundant on the moon it could theoretically meet global energy demands for 250 years -- if harnessed.

Modi has sharpened India’s focus on space since coming to power in 2014, with a pipeline of ambitious flights. India plans to send a mission to study the sun next year, another to Venus three years later, and eventually establish its own space station. It’s also working on a $1.4 billion Gaganyaan mission, which aims to put three Indian “gaganauts” into orbit.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anurag Kotoky in New Delhi at akotoky@bloomberg.net;Justin Bachman in Dallas at jbachman2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, ;Sebastian Tong at stong41@bloomberg.net, Karthikeyan Sundaram, Shamim Adam

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