Orbiter's life to be 7 years as it now has extra fuel: Isro chief K Sivan

'We will continue to try to establish contact for the next 14 days. Future programmes will go as planned', says K Sivan

After the moon landing mishap, K Sivan, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) spoke to T E Narasimhan. Edited excerpts:

What went wrong at the last minute? 

Of the four descent phases, the first three were successful. During the last phase, the link was lost and communication could not be established. Experts say the communication channel is on between the lander and the orbiter. We are trying to establish the link with the lander and will continue to try for the next 14 days. 

How did you locate the lander? 

The orbiter has clicked a thermal image of (the) lander