PM Narendra Modi hugs ISRO chief K Sivan on the day the lander Vikram went offline

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman G Satheesh Reddy on Sunday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for consoling and hugging ISRO chief K Sivan after the later broke down following Chandrayaan 2's lander Vikram going offline.

"It is a great gesture by the Prime Minister. It is a great morale booster for scientists who saw last-mile glitch in the mission," Mr Satheesh said.

"I think the ISRO scientists again started working on the mission after that gesture. They started looking for what actually happened and that is how they could locate the rover also," he said.

PM Modi was present at the Indian Space Research Organisation's headquarters in Bengaluru when the lander Vikram stopped sending signals to its ground station on Saturday.

Before formally announcing the development, Mr Sivan walked up to PM Modi to inform him that the ground station had lost contact with the lander when it was 2.1-km from the lunar surface.

The DRDO chief slammed Pakistan's Federal Minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry for trying to ridicule India's second lunar mission, saying "they cannot understand the complexity" of the mission.

Chandrayaan 2, India's second moon mission, was launched from Sriharikota on July 22. It revolved around the Earth's orbit for nearly 23 days before starting its journey towards the moon on August 14.