Chandrayaan 2 a learning experience: NASA engineer
Kolkata: A spacecraft systems engineer at NASA has said that the recent Chandrayaan 2 mission has been a "learning experience" for Indian scientists as it has helped ISRO to gather a lot of information about the Moon.
Anne Devereaux, working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA, is the lead flight system engineer for the US space agency's Mars 2020 mission.
Speaking at the American Center here on Wednesday, Devereaux said, "The Indian scientists did very well. Lot of information (was) gathered. The orbiter has been successful".
Chandrayaan 2, the second Indian lunar mission, had suffered a snag while attempting a historic landing on the uncharted South Pole of the Moon.
The lander 'Vikram' lost communication with ground stations during its final 2.1-km descent on September 7.
When asked what could have happened to the lander, the NASA engineer said, "It is upto ISRO scientists to figure out what went wrong.
"It is a learning experience for Indian scientists. We do learn from failures.
She said, even her husband was tracking the mission from JPL on that day, but after some time he had sent a message to her - "I don't see it anymore."
The Chadrayaan 1 mission had been "spectacularly successful" which confirmed about the significant presence of water in the Moon, Devereaux said.
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'Wrong format': Speaker UT Khader rejects APMC Minister Shivanand Patil's resignation
Bengaluru: Minister for Textiles and APMC Shivanand S Patil resigned as MLA on Friday, stating that he was accepting a challenge from expelled BJP legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal to contest a by-election against him, but Karnataka Assembly Speaker UT Khader rejected the letter on grounds that Patil's resignation was not in the right format.
The minister, who is the MLA from Basavana Bagevadi, had requested the Speaker in his letter to accept his letter only if Yatnal too resigned as legislator of Vijayapura to contest against him.
Yatnal too, however, has rejected Patil's challenge, calling it only a drama. Stating that a conditional resignation was not acceptable, Yatnal added that he would not resign unless the minister's resignation letter was accepted.
Yatnal had recently criticized Patil and Congress MLA from Hungund Vijayanand Kashappanavar for protesting against him in Vijayapura city for his allegedly defamatory comments on Muslims. Yatnal had also challenged both Congress leaders to face him in by-elections from their respective constituencies.
On Friday, Patil submitted his resignation, saying he was accepting Yatnal's challenge and would take on the MLA in a by-election from Basavana Bagevadi.
