Chandrayaan-2: NASA Shares High-Res Pics Of Vikram Landing Site, Confirms It's Hiding In Shadow

Vikram had a "hard landing," NASA confirmed on Friday as it released high-resolution images captured by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) during its flyby of the lunar region.

The pictures are of the area where India's ambitious Chandrayaan-2 mission attempted a soft landing near the Moon's uncharted south pole and found Vikram had a hard landing.

Source NASA

"Vikram had a hard landing and the precise location of the spacecraft in the lunar highlands has yet to be determined, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. The scene was captured from a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Quickmap fly-around of the targeted landing site image width is about 150 kilometres across the centre, " NASA said in a statement.

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

¡ª NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2019

India had expected to make space history with the Rs 1,000-crore Chandrayaan-2 mission. After Vikram lost contact with ground stations, just 2.1 km above the touchdown site, the possibility of establishing contact with the lander had a deadline of September 21.

The images were taken at dusk, and the team was not able to locate the lander and it is possible that the Chandrayaan-2 lander is hiding in a shadow,the US space agency said

"The scene above was captured from a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Quickmap fly-around of the targeted landing site image width is about 150 kilometres across the centre...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; it is possible that the Vikram lander is hiding in a shadow," the statement said.

NASA

ISRO had said the mission life of the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover it carried will be one lunar day, which is equal to 14 Earth days.

The lunar nights can be very cold, especially in the south polar region where Vikram is lying. Temperatures could drop to as low as minus 200 degrees Celsius during the lunar night.

The instruments aboard the lander are not designed to withstand that kind of temperature. The electronics would not work in absence of solar energy and would get permanently damaged, says ISRO statement.

"Our next priority is Gaganyaan mission," the top space scientist in the country added.