NASA released high-resolution images of India’s chandrayan-2 test site on September 27 near the unexplored southern part of the moon.  The images were captured by a three-camera system called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) mounted on the lunar reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

Our @ LRO_NASA mission with an image of the landing site of the Indian lander “chandrayan-2” Vikram. The images were taken at dusk and the team was unable to locate the lander. Additional images will be taken in October during the flyby in favorable lighting. read more: https://t.co/1bMVGRKslp pic.twitter.com/kqTp3GkwuM

“Vikram made a hard landing, and the exact location of the spacecraft in the lunar highlands has yet to be determined,” NASA said.

ISRO lost contact with the lander on September 7, when it was supposed to land. After Vikram lost contact with ground stations, just 2.1 km above the landing site, the possibility of making contact with the lander was limited on September 21, as the region then entered a lunar night.

This event was India’s first attempt at a soft landing on the moon. According to the U.S. space Agency, the site was about 600 kilometers from the South pole in a relatively ancient area.

The LRO passed over the landing site on September 17 and acquired a set of high-resolution images of the terrain; so far, the LROC team has not been able to locate or hit the lander.

“LRO will next fly over the landing pad on October 14, when lighting conditions will be more favorable,” John Keller, Deputy science project Lunar reconnaissance orbiting mission, Goddard space flight center, told PTI via email.

Also read Work on plans for future mission to the moon, says ISRO head K Sivan

It is also noted that it was dusk when the landing pad was pictured and thus large shadows covered much of the terrain.

“It was dusk when the landing pad was pictured and thus large shadows covered much of the terrain; it is possible that the Vikram lander is lurking in the shadows. The lighting will be favorable when the LRO passes over the site in October and once again tries to locate and image the lander, ” NASA said.

“Vikram made a hard landing, and the exact location of the spacecraft in the lunar highlands has yet to be determined,” NASA said.

“The scene was captured from the lunar reconnaissance orbiting camera Quickkart circling the target landing site about 150 kilometers wide in the center. “NASA added

(with inputs from PTI)

Future Wise podcast What to do if your Institute gets blacklisted by AICTE