Chandrayaan mission formally over: ISRO

A day after it lost radio contact with the Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has formally called off the moon mission.

ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said: "We have terminated the moon mission as we have not been able to get in touch with Chandrayaan."

Earlier, the ISRO scientists said that they lost radio contact with Chandrayaan-I spacecraft at 1:30 am on Saturday. The last data from Chandrayaan came in at 25 minutes past midnight on Saturday.

The mission was scheduled for two years.

Troubled life on the moon

• Within weeks of launch, Chandrayaan almost got burnt
• Power system on board failed
• May: Spacecraft's star sensor damaged
• August 29: All radio communication lost

The landmark satellite was launched from Sriharikota on October 22, 2008 and has had a rather troubled life on the moon. Yet in its short over-300 day life, the spacecraft has indeed achieved a lot.

Within weeks of the launch, the spacecraft almost got burnt due to overheating. And later, a power system on board failed.

In May, the spacecraft lost its fine guidance when the star sensor packed up.

And the latest trouble happened a little after midnight on Saturday when all radio communication was lost with spacecraft.