Pivotal moment for # Chandrayaan2! NASA’s LRO probe to fly over Vikram’s landing site

News Bharati    17-Sep-2019
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New Delhi, Sept. 17: Today is a most crucial and important day for our Chandrayaan 2, as NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is scheduled to fly over Vikram's landing site on Sept. 17.
 

 
 
As per the latest update of ISRO, Chandrayaan-2 orbiter has spotted Vikram from above, and mission controllers continue to try establishing communications with the craft. To take another step in these continued efforts, NASA's LRO will fly over the site for more information. 
 
 
Unfortunately, on Sept. 6, Vikram lander descended toward the lunar surface, targeting a site near the south pole. But mission controllers lost contact with Vikram when the craft was 2.1 kilometers above the gray dirt, and the lander has been silent ever since. 
 
As per the official statement of NASA, “per NASA policy, all LRO data are publicly available, NASA will share any before and after flyover imagery of the area around the targeted Chandrayaan-2 Vikram lander landing site to support analysis by the Indian Space Research Organization”.
 
LRO, which launched in 2009, has a history of photographing spacecraft on the lunar surface. The orbiter has repeatedly imaged NASA's Apollo landing sites, and it has spied both of China's moon rovers (Yutu and Yutu-2). LRO also found the final resting place of Israel's Beresheet lander, which crashed during its epic touchdown attempt this past April.
 
Earlier, ISRO assured, The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is still going strong, using eight science instruments to map the lunar surface in detail, assess the moon's stores of water ice, and perform a variety of other tasks. The spacecraft is expected to continue this work for at least seven more years.