Chandrayaan 2 lander was ready to land on Moon’ surface on September 07, 2019. But just minutes before the landing, the ISRO lost communication with Vikram, when it was 2.1km from the lunar surface.
On September 26, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) released high-resolution images of the intended landing site of the Chandrayaan-2 lander Vikram. However, it was unable to determine the exact location of Vikram.
Vikram had a hard landing, and the precise location of the spacecraft remains unknown. The scene was captured from a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Quickmap fly-around of the targeted landing site image width is about 150 kilometers across the center.
NASA stated, “The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) passed over the landing site on September 17 and acquired a set of high-resolution images of the area, so far the LROC team has not been able to locate or image the lander. It was dusk when the landing area was imaged, and thus large shadows covered much of the terrain; the Vikram lander may be hiding in a shadow.”
“The lighting will be favorable when LRO passes over the site in October and once again attempts to locate and image the lander.”
Our @LRO_NASA mission imaged the targeted landing site of India’s Chandrayaan-2 lander, Vikram. The images were taken at dusk, and the team was not able to locate the lander. More images will be taken in October during a flyby in favorable lighting. More: https://t.co/1bMVGRKslp pic.twitter.com/kqTp3GkwuM
— NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2019
Vikram was planned to touch down on September 7. This event was India’s first attempt to soft-land on the Moon and could have moved it into a select club of countries to have arrived on the lunar surface.
The NASA orbiter passed over the Vikram landing site on September 17 and acquired a set of high-resolution images of the area.
After losing contact with Vikram, the possibility of establishing contact with the lander had a deadline of September 21, because after that the region entered into a lunar night.
John Keller, Deputy Project Scientist Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission, Goddard Space Flight Centre, said, “LRO will next fly over the landing site on October 14 when lighting conditions will be more favorable.”