Bengaluru: The 'Vikram' lander lies on the lunar surface as a single piece, unbroken and it is in a tilted position following a hard landing, an ISRO official said on Monday.
Efforts are underway to re-establish the link with the probe, the official added.
Vikram, which encases rover 'Pragyan' went out of contact during its final descent, when it was just 2.1km above the lunar surface, on September 7.
“The lander is there as a single piece, not broken into pieces. It's in a tilted position,” an ISRO official associated with the mission claimed.
Though the lander hit the surface hard while landing, it was still very close to the scheduled touchdown site as per the images sent by the orbiter's onboard camera, he said.
Chandrayaan-2 comprises an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan). The mission life of the lander and rover is one lunar day, which is equal to 14 earth days.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan had said on Saturday that the space agency would try to restore the link with the lander for 14 days and reiterated the resolve on September 8 after the orbiter's camera spotted it on the Lunar surface.
An ISRO official said chances of restoring the link with the lander were bleak since its system functionality was a prerequisite to achieve that.
"Unless and until everything is intact, it's very difficult (to re-establish contact). Chances are less. Only if it had soft-landing, and if all systems functioned, then only communication can be restored. Things are bleak as of now."
Another space agency official, though felt that chances did exist for restoring the link, however, listed the limitations involved.
Recalling ISRO's experience of recovering a spacecraft that went out of contact in the geostationary orbit, he said the lander's case was dissimilar.
In the case of Vikram, "that kind of operational flexibility is not there," since it is already on the lunar surface and it cannot be reoriented, he said.
A vital aspect is positioning of antennas and these have to be pointed towards either the ground station or the orbiter, he said.
"Such an operation is extremely difficult," he said adding "we will have to keep our fingers crossed."
(With inputs from PTI)
