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Posted: 2019-09-08 17:02:26

ISRO officials could not be reached for comment.

The space agency said it lost touch with the Vikram lunar lander on Saturday as it made its final approach to the moon's south pole to deploy a rover to search for signs of water.

Indian Space Research Organisation scientists watch a screen at their Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network facility in Bangalore on Saturday as the spacecraft approached the moon.

Indian Space Research Organisation scientists watch a screen at their Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network facility in Bangalore on Saturday as the spacecraft approached the moon.Credit:AP

Confirmation of a successful landing would make India just the fourth country to land a vessel on the lunar surface, and only the third to operate a robotic rover there.

The space agency said on Saturday that the lander's descent was normal until 2 kilometres from the lunar surface.

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The roughly $US140 million ($205 million) mission, known as Chandrayaan-2, was intended to study permanently shadowed moon craters that are thought to contain water deposits that were confirmed by the Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008.

The latest mission lifted off on July 22 from the Satish Dhawan space centre in Sriharikota, an island off the coast of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

After its launch, Chandrayaan-2 spent several weeks making its way toward the moon, ultimately entering lunar orbit on August 20.

The Vikram lander separated from the mission's orbiter on September 2 and began a series of braking manoeuvres to lower its orbit and ready itself for landing.

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