NASA unable to find ISRO's Vikram, says it maybe obscured by shadows

NASA stated that it found no trace of India’s Second Moon Mission Chandrayaan 2’s Vikram lander in the thermal images captured during the latest flyby of its Moon orbiter of the lunar region. The Vikram lander had attempted a soft landing at the spot. The project scientist of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, Noah Edward Petro, confirmed that they did not get any evidence of Vikram having safely landed despite the camera team carefully examining the images and employing the change detection technique - using a ratio of an image from prior to the landing attempt to the one acquired - on October 14. At the same time, John Keller - the deputy project scientist of the LRO mission conceded that Vikram might be located outside the search area or in a shadow. 

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The project scientist for the LRO mission said, “The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the area of the targeted Chandrayaan-2 Vikram landing site on October 14 but did not observe any evidence of the lander.” Keller added, “It is possible that Vikram is located in a shadow or outside of the search area. Because of the low latitude, approximately 70 degrees south, the area is never completely free of shadows.” 

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Chandrayaan 2 

India's Second Moon Mission’s Vikram lander attempted to land on the surface of the Moon on September 7. Unlike other Moon Missions, Chandrayaan 2 was a more challenging one because of the fact that it was going to land in the rugged territory. If the landing would have been achieved, India would have become the fourth country after the United States of America, Russia, and, China to achieve a soft-landing on the Moon. Unfortunately, communication with the Vikram lander was lost. While the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s attempts to establish contact with Vikram have not been successful so far, it has released images of the lunar surface in the last few weeks. 

(With PTI inputs)

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