Dec 3, 2019

NASA finds India's crashed Moon lander

Miriam Kramer

A before/after showing the Vikram lander's crash site. Gif: NASA/Goddard/ASU

The final resting place of India's failed lunar lander has been found.

The big picture: The Vikram lander was India's bid to become the fourth nation to land and operate a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. The mission failed on Sept. 6 when a thruster issue caused the lander to crash not long before its expected touchdown.

What's happening: On Sept. 26, NASA released a mosaic image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that included Vikram's presumed crash site.

  • NASA credits engineer Shanmuga Subramanian with tipping off the space agency to the location of the Vikram's debris after examining the mosaic.
  • "After receiving this tip, the LROC [Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera] team confirmed the identification by comparing before and after images," NASA said in a statement Monday night.

Background: Vikram wasn't the only lunar lander to fail this year. Israel's Beresheet spacecraft also crashed into the Moon during its attempt at a landing.

  • China, on the other hand, became the first country to land on the far side of the Moon with its successful landing of the Chang'e-4 lander in January.

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India admits its lunar lander crashed

The Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-2 launches on July 22, 2019. Photo: Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images.

The Indian government confirmed in a recent report that its Vikram lunar lander crashed or "hard landed" during its September mission after its fine braking thrusters malfunctioned.

Why it matters: The unsuccessful mission was India's attempt to become the first country to explore the moon's south pole, after announcing plans to launch people into space in the early 2020s.

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Why it matters: The report from NASA's inspector general — and others like it — reveals some of what lurks below the positive face the space agency puts forward announcing its accomplishments and hyping its future endeavors.

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OSIRIS-REx's chosen landing site on Bennu. Photo: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

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Why it matters: Asteroids are thought to be leftovers from the dawn of the solar system, so the sample that OSIRIS-REx gets from the asteroid Bennu could help scientists piece together the history of planetary formation and even how organic compounds made it to Earth.

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