No Trace Of Vikram Lander Yet, New NASA LRO Report

NASA LRO has conducted a flyby recently and has found no trace of the Chandrayaan 2: Vikram lander. NASA's Noad Edward Petro, the Project Scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbit told the PTI that there's still been no trace of the Vikram lander. The LRO flyby has produced no concrete results.

NASA LRO Flyby

Petro 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." The LRO camera team has carefully examined the captured images, but the Vikram lander is nowhere to be found. The team has also enabled the change detection technique, which uses the ratio of the image to compare it between the images during the landing date (September 7) and the one captured on October 14.

Again, the team says it's possible the ISRO's Chandrayaan 2 lander could be in a shadow or outside reach. John Keller, the Deputy Project Scientist for NASA LRO mission said: "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."

Chandrayaan 2: Vikram Lander Still Missing

The Chandrayaan 2: Vikram lander was supposed to soft-land near the south pole on the Moon on September 7. Vikram was projected to land on a small patch of lunar highland smooth plains between Simpelius N and Manzinus C craters. However, during the final phases of the landing, Vikram lost all contact with the base station. On September 17, NASA's LRO conducted the first flyby to help search for the missing lander. The LRO passed over the possible landing site and captured a set of high-resolution pictures.

Back then, the Moon was heading into a lunar night and it was dusk when the LRO conducted its flyby. The images captured were hard to decipher due to the long shadows and lack of sunlight. The LRO team was unable to locate the lander in the first attempt. And now, the second attempt is also in vain. But NASA has said it would search for the Vikram lander vigorously yet again.