"We will rise to the occasion and reach even newer heights of success," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said hours after ISRO announced that they had lost communication with Chandrayaan 2's lander, Vikram, minutes before its soft landing on the surface of the moon.
During an interaction with the ISRO scientists here on Saturday, Modi was seen boosting their morale and assured that India stands in solidarity with them.
"We will rise to the occasion and reach even newer heights of success. To our scientists I want to say- India is with you. You are exceptional professionals who have made an incredible contribution to national progress," Modi said.
Stressing that there is no failure in science, the Prime Minister said, "There will be a new dawn and a brighter tomorrow very soon. There is no failure in science, only experiment and efforts. Today I can proudly say that the effort was worth it and so was the journey."
"Our team worked hard, travelled far and these very teachings will remain with us. The learning from today will make us stronger and better," he continued.
While interacting with the ISRO scientists, Modi said that there is no need to be disheartened as the country is extremely proud of them.
"If we would have been defeated by our initial difficulties, we would not have become a premier space agency. There is no need to be disheartened and there is no looking back. Regardless of the result, I and all of India are extremely proud of our scientists and engineers," he said.
Informing about the communication lost, the ISRO had tweeted, "This is Mission Control Centre. #VikramLander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, communication from Lander to the ground stations was lost. Data is being analyzed."
The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter on September 2. The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the moon in its existing orbit.
The Vikram lander was planned to land on the far side of the moon between 1:30 am to 2:30 am on the intervening night of Friday-Saturday. This would have been followed by rover (Pragyan) roll-out between 5:30 am to 6:30 am.
After revolving around the Earth's orbit for nearly 23 days, the craft began its journey to the moon on August 14.
The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22.
India's second mission to the moon was approved by the cabinet in September 2008, just before the launch of Chandrayaan 1.
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