Spotting of Vikram good news, now need to find out its condition: Former scientist PK Ghosh

Former scientist PK Ghosh on Monday said that while the spotting of Vikram Lander on the moon's surface was great news but it was far more important to know whether it was in working condition or not.

"I think the spotting of Vikram Lander is really good and hopeful news. They feel that Vikram is fit from outside but its condition on the inside is more important to know," Ghosh told ANI here.

Earlier yesterday, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) found the location of Lander Vikram, with which the space agency lost communication moments before it was scheduled to make a soft-landing on the South Pole region of the moon.

The former scientist added that while the lander may have positioned itself on the moon's surface through automatic intelligence, it was important to know what kind of landing it underwent.

"Everyone knows it that during the last minutes of landing, when communication was lost with the lander then through automatic intelligence it might have landed but we don't know whether it was soft landing or hard landing and what the condition of payloads is," Ghosh said.

"We cannot say anything till the ISRO is able to contact the lander. If it was tilted at the time of landing it could cause a problem as then Pragyan would not be able to come out of the lander. We should be hopeful that ISRO will be able to establish communication and make it work," Ghosh added.

The orbiter has clicked a thermal image of the lander.

Vikram was to land on the moon's surface on September 7. It was 2.1 km above the moon's surface when it lost contact with the ground station at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru.