The Silicon Review ^Asia

The United States space agency stated on Tuesday that it has found the debris of the Vikram lander of Indian Space Research Organisations’ Chandrayaan 2 mission after it made a hard landing on the moon’s surface almost three months ago.

NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) commented that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) camera has spotted the debris from the Vikram lander on the moon’s surface. A mechanical engineer Shanmuga Subramanian contacted NASA after which NASA confirmed the identification. “Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the LRO project with positive identification of debris. After receiving this tip, the LROC team confirmed the identification by comparing before and after images,” NASA stated.NASA further reported that the discovery was first located by Shanmuga approximately 750 meters northwest of the immediate crash site. “The LROC team scoured the surrounding area in these new mosaics and found the impact site (70.8810°S, 22.7840°E, 834 m elevation) and associated debris field. The November mosaic had the best pixel scale (0.7 meter) and lighting conditions (72° incidence angle),” it said. NASA praised the Indian Space Research Organisation’s effort to get the lander so close to the lunar surface. “…unfortunately, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost contact with their lander shortly before the scheduled touchdown (Sept. 7 in India, Sept. 6 in the United States).  Despite the loss, getting that close to the surface was an amazing achievement,” it said. The Chandrayaan 2 mission would have made India the fourth nation to land on the moon’s surface if the mission had been successful.