--- title: "India Finally Admits Its Moon Lander Crashed" description: "The Indian government released a short report detailing its Moon lander Vikram's demise in early September — the first time it admitted its lander crashed." date: "2019-11-26" modified: "2019-11-26" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-admits-moon-lander-crashed" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "Space" tags: - "chandrayaan-2" - "india" - "lunar lander" - "the digest" --- # India Finally Admits Its Moon Lander Crashed ![The Indian government released a short report detailing its Moon lander Vikram's demise in early September — the first time it admitted its lander crashed.]() *\Image: ISRO\* ## Hard Landing On September 7, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) [lost all communications]() with its Vikram lunar lander. Two and a half months later, the ISRO has finally decided to say goodbye. "The first phase of descent was performed nominally from an altitude of 30 km to 7.4 km above the moon surface," reads [a report]() by Jitendra Singh, minister of state for India's Department of Space. But shortly after, the numbers started deviating "beyond the designed parameters... As a result, Vikram hard landed within 500 \[meters\] of the designated landing site." ## Fail Forward We still don't know what caused the crash — but it is the first formal acknowledgement of the lander's failure, [according to *NPR*](). Not everything is lost, though. Luckily, the orbiter that carried Vikram to the Moon is still very much in action. "Most of the components of Technology demonstration, including the launch, orbital critical maneuvers, lander separation, de-boost and rough braking phase were successfully accomplished," Singh added. India was set to become only the fourth country after the U.S., the USSR, and China to softly land a manmade object on the Moon. **READ MORE:** [2 Months After Failed Moon Landing, India Acknowledges Its Craft Crashed]() \[*NPR*\] **More on Chandrayaan-2:** *[India Finds Lost Moon Lander, Tries to Establish Contact]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()