<p>Marking a year of the Chandrayaan-2 integrated module having been inserted into lunar orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released its initial set of technical and mission data.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The agency goes on to state that though the soft-landing was unsuccessful, the orbiter had completed 4400 orbits around the moon and all eight on-board instruments are performing well. While the orbiter was meant to stay operational for one year, ISRO says that it has enough fuel for remaining in orbit for seven years.</p>

<p>The Indian space agency has said that the spacecraft is healthy and performance of its subsystems are normal. The orbiter is being maintained in 100 +/- 25 km polar orbit (circling the moon along the poles) with periodic orbit maintenance (OM) manoeuvres. When any satellite or spacecraft is in space in a certain orbit it swings wildly on a certain plane and moves a few hundred metres or even a few kilometres away from the intended path. That's when commands are issued to fire it's on-board liquid-fuelles Motors to steer it back on course.&nbsp;</p>

<p>So far, 17 such OMs were carried out since achieving 100 km lunar orbit on September 24, 2019. The statement from ISRO also adds that the eight scientific payloads on-board are being used optimally. Simply put, it means that the illumination on the lunar surface would vary throughout the year, depending on the sun’s position. Hence, ISRO is making use of multiple equipments to capture images and conduct studies when conventional imaging cameras cannot function owing to poor lighting. &nbsp;</p>

<p>According to ISRO, over the last year, the Terrain Mapping Camera 2(TMC 2) has been able to acquire images of nearly 4 million sq. km&nbsp;of lunar surface area&nbsp;during 220 orbits. TMC -2 is said to be the highest resolution camera that is currently in orbit around the moon. With a resolution of 30cm, it will be able to distinguish between objects that are 30cm apart.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It is besides the orbiter high-resolution camera (OHRC) has captured images of about 1056sq km area, this data can be used to select landing sites for future missions. The images from OHRC can also help scientists understand the boulders in a particular region and help in interpreting the geological features and their history.</p>

<p>While some of the salient results have been shared on the occasion of the anniversary of lunar orbit insertion, ISRO has stated that the public data release is planned for later this year, after validation by formal peer review. The agency believes that&nbsp;</p>

<p>India's second moon-probe Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22nd last year and had attempted a moon-landing on September 7th. However, the much-anticipated landing happened to end up in a crash landing, after ISRO lost contact with the Vikram lander, barely at an altitude of 2.1km from the lunar surface.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The mission was launched with the objectives of obtaining detailed information on the topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics and the lunar exosphere.</p>

<p>India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 is credited with finding extensive presence of surface water and the indication of sub-surface polar water-ice deposits. India is also working on Chandrayaan-3, the country's third moon probe, and it is expected to be launched sometime in 2021 or later.&nbsp;</p>


Marking a year of the Chandrayaan-2 integrated module having been inserted into lunar orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released its initial set of technical and mission data.

Marking a year of the Chandrayaan-2 integrated module having been inserted into lunar orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released its initial set of technical and mission data. The agency goes on to state that though the soft-landing was unsuccessful, the orbiter had completed 4400 orbits around the moon and all eight on-board instruments are performing well. While the orbiter was meant to stay operational for one year, ISRO says that it has enough fuel for remaining in orbit for seven years. The Indian space agency has said that the spacecraft is healthy and performance of its subsystems are normal. The orbiter is being maintained in 100 +/- 25 km polar orbit (circling the moon along the poles) with periodic orbit maintenance (OM) manoeuvres. When any satellite or spacecraft is in space in a certain orbit it swings wildly on a certain plane and moves a few hundred metres or even a few kilometres away from the intended path. That's when commands are issued to fire it's on-board liquid-fuelles Motors to steer it back on course. So far, 17 such OMs were carried out since achieving 100 km lunar orbit on September 24, 2019. The statement from ISRO also adds that the eight scientific payloads on-board are being used optimally. Simply put, it means that the illumination on the lunar surface would vary throughout the year, depending on the sun’s position. Hence, ISRO is making use of multiple equipments to capture images and conduct studies when conventional imaging cameras cannot function owing to poor lighting. According to ISRO, over the last year, the Terrain Mapping Camera 2(TMC 2) has been able to acquire images of nearly 4 million sq. km of lunar surface area during 220 orbits. TMC -2 is said to be the highest resolution camera that is currently in orbit around the moon. With a resolution of 30cm, it will be able to distinguish between objects that are 30cm apart. It is besides the orbiter high-resolution camera (OHRC) has captured images of about 1056sq km area, this data can be used to select landing sites for future missions. The images from OHRC can also help scientists understand the boulders in a particular region and help in interpreting the geological features and their history. While some of the salient results have been shared on the occasion of the anniversary of lunar orbit insertion, ISRO has stated that the public data release is planned for later this year, after validation by formal peer review. The agency believes that India's second moon-probe Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22nd last year and had attempted a moon-landing on September 7th. However, the much-anticipated landing happened to end up in a crash landing, after ISRO lost contact with the Vikram lander, barely at an altitude of 2.1km from the lunar surface. The mission was launched with the objectives of obtaining detailed information on the topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics and the lunar exosphere. India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 is credited with finding extensive presence of surface water and the indication of sub-surface polar water-ice deposits. India is also working on Chandrayaan-3, the country's third moon probe, and it is expected to be launched sometime in 2021 or later.

A year in orbit, Chandrayaan-2 clicks millions of sq km of lunar surface

<p>Shanmuga Subramanian, a Chennai-based techie and space enthusiast who was credited by NASA, late last year for spotting the debris of India's Chandrayaan 2 moon probe, Vikram lander, which crash landed near the south pole of the moon, has come up with his latest find.</p>

<p>This time he claims to have possibly spotted the skeleton of the Vikram lander and also the pragyaan rover that might have rolled out onto the lunar surface. The claim is based on a similar method he had employed for the earlier find, by studying and comparing open source moon images shared by NASA. After having written to both ISRO and NASA, he is enthusiastically hoping for the best.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Shanmuga Subramanian told WION that his earlier find was of the debris (perhaps a part of the payload that the vikram lander was carrying on-board) from the crash landing, as also acknowledged by NASA.</p>

<p>But this time around, he's likely to have located the outer shell of the Vikram lander and also the pragyan rover which has rolled out onto the lunar surface. He has also tweeted out images of his possible find and mailed them to ISRO and NASA, who would be the best authorities to judge and confirm the possible find. &nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Chandrayaan2's Pragyan "ROVER" intact on Moon's surface &amp; has rolled out few metres from the skeleton Vikram lander whose payloads got disintegrated due to rough landing | More details in below tweets <a href="https://twitter.com/isro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@isro</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chandrayaan2?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chandrayaan2</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VikramLander?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VikramLander</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PragyanRover?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PragyanRover</a> (1/4) <a href="https://t.co/iKSHntsK1f">pic.twitter.com/iKSHntsK1f</a></p>
— Shan (Shanmuga Subramanian) (@Ramanean) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ramanean/status/1289405848821800965?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

<p>When asked about what led him to embark on this tedious search again, he says he was spending the recent weeks trying to locate other debris on the moon such as the first-ever probe sent by the erstwhile Soviet union.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"Using an open-source NASA software I've been looking at various regions in-depth. The area was around where the earlier debris was spotted was also of particular interest" he told WION.&nbsp;</p>

<p>He says that the most interesting aspect was a few images clicked by NASA in January, that were made publicly available in May.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"This image was more illuminated due to the then prevailing lighting conditions in that region and enabled me to spot much more. Generally that region is poorly lit. My latest find ( possibly vikram lander and pragyan rover) is around 500-700 meters towards the right of &nbsp;the debris that I located last year" he says.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The image he has tweeted out has markings that point to the objects that are suspected to be the vikram lander, the pragyan rover and also the possible tracks of the rover.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Leaving it upto ISRO to confirm, Subramanian suspects that the wheeled rover might have eventually rolled out from the lander after the crash landing.</p>

<p>"May be it was pre-programmed to roll out or maybe the lander received ISRO's command to roll our the rover. The lander and rover may have been communicating &nbsp;back and forth. But, perhaps this could have been a case of one-way communication. While the lander and rover could communicate, &nbsp;it was perhaps not able to relay the signals back to Earth after the harsh landing" he says.&nbsp;</p>

<p>WION also got the receipt of Subramanian's e-mail confirmed from ISRO chairman Dr.K.Sivan. "He has sent us the image and we have shared it with our experts for analysis" Dr. Sivan told WION.&nbsp;</p>

<p>India's second moon-probe Chandrayaan 2 was launched on July 22nd last year and had attempted a moon-landing on September 7th. However, the much anticipated landing happened to end-up in a crash landing, after ISRO lost contact with the vikram lander, barely at an altitude of 2.1km from the lunar surface.</p>

<p>India is also working on chandrayaan 3, the country's thrid moon probe, and it is expected to be launched sometime in 2021.&nbsp;</p>


Shanmuga Subramanian, a Chennai-based techie and space enthusiast who was credited by NASA, late last year for spotting the debris of India's Chandrayaan 2 moon probe, Vikram lander, which crash landed near the south pole of the moon, has come up with his latest find.

Shanmuga Subramanian, a Chennai-based techie and space enthusiast who was credited by NASA, late last year for spotting the debris of India's Chandrayaan 2 moon probe, Vikram lander, which crash landed near the south pole of the moon, has come up with his latest find. This time he claims to have possibly spotted the skeleton of the Vikram lander and also the pragyaan rover that might have rolled out onto the lunar surface. The claim is based on a similar method he had employed for the earlier find, by studying and comparing open source moon images shared by NASA. After having written to both ISRO and NASA, he is enthusiastically hoping for the best. Shanmuga Subramanian told WION that his earlier find was of the debris (perhaps a part of the payload that the vikram lander was carrying on-board) from the crash landing, as also acknowledged by NASA. But this time around, he's likely to have located the outer shell of the Vikram lander and also the pragyan rover which has rolled out onto the lunar surface. He has also tweeted out images of his possible find and mailed them to ISRO and NASA, who would be the best authorities to judge and confirm the possible find. Chandrayaan2's Pragyan "ROVER" intact on Moon's surface & has rolled out few metres from the skeleton Vikram lander whose payloads got disintegrated due to rough landing | More details in below tweets @isro #Chandrayaan2 #VikramLander #PragyanRover (1/4) pic.twitter.com/iKSHntsK1f — Shan (Shanmuga Subramanian) (@Ramanean) August 1, 2020 × When asked about what led him to embark on this tedious search again, he says he was spending the recent weeks trying to locate other debris on the moon such as the first-ever probe sent by the erstwhile Soviet union. "Using an open-source NASA software I've been looking at various regions in-depth. The area was around where the earlier debris was spotted was also of particular interest" he told WION. He says that the most interesting aspect was a few images clicked by NASA in January, that were made publicly available in May. "This image was more illuminated due to the then prevailing lighting conditions in that region and enabled me to spot much more. Generally that region is poorly lit. My latest find ( possibly vikram lander and pragyan rover) is around 500-700 meters towards the right of the debris that I located last year" he says. The image he has tweeted out has markings that point to the objects that are suspected to be the vikram lander, the pragyan rover and also the possible tracks of the rover. Leaving it upto ISRO to confirm, Subramanian suspects that the wheeled rover might have eventually rolled out from the lander after the crash landing. "May be it was pre-programmed to roll out or maybe the lander received ISRO's command to roll our the rover. The lander and rover may have been communicating back and forth. But, perhaps this could have been a case of one-way communication. While the lander and rover could communicate, it was perhaps not able to relay the signals back to Earth after the harsh landing" he says. WION also got the receipt of Subramanian's e-mail confirmed from ISRO chairman Dr.K.Sivan. "He has sent us the image and we have shared it with our experts for analysis" Dr. Sivan told WION. India's second moon-probe Chandrayaan 2 was launched on July 22nd last year and had attempted a moon-landing on September 7th. However, the much anticipated landing happened to end-up in a crash landing, after ISRO lost contact with the vikram lander, barely at an altitude of 2.1km from the lunar surface. India is also working on chandrayaan 3, the country's thrid moon probe, and it is expected to be launched sometime in 2021.

Vikram lander and Pragyan rover spotted? Techie awaits ISRO, NASA nod

<p>A Chennai-based amateur astronomer spent 8-10 hours a day to analyse moon's images which later helped NASA in locating ISRO's Vikram lander.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA early on Tuesday said that it has found the debris of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/chandrayaan-2-nasa-satellite-finds-indias-vikram-moon-lander-releases-images-of-impact-site-265811">Chandrayaan-2 Vikram lander </a>with the help of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). NASA further said that Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team with a "positive sign" of the lander's debris. The LROC team compared moon's images before and after Vikram lost contact which helped them to locate the lander.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/vikram-landar-dound-by-nasa-chennai-engineer-helpd-detect-the-debris-265957/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chandrayaan2?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chandrayaan2</a> Vikram lander has been found by our <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAMoon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAMoon</a> mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. See the first mosaic of the impact site <a href="https://t.co/GA3JspCNuh">https://t.co/GA3JspCNuh</a> <a href="https://t.co/jaW5a63sAf">pic.twitter.com/jaW5a63sAf</a></p>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1201597561720725506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<p>Subramanian tweeted on Tuesday morning that he received a mail from NASA which acknoweledged his help to find out the lander.</p>

<p>The Vikram lander was scheduled to land on Moon on September 7 but ISRO lost contact with lander minutes before the touchdown.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Subramanian said that he used to analyse images released by NASA's LROC to compare moon's earlier images with the ones after Vikram had lost contact. &nbsp;"I was spending something 8-10 hours each day for four to five hours on that. I stopped my research after I sent the tweet because I knew that this might be the probable debris," he said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>He then shared his results with NASA on October 3.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Subramanian is delighted with NASA's reponse which recognized his efforts.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Earlier on Tuesday morning, NASA confirmed that its moon mission Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has found the Vikram lander.</p>

<p>India's ambitious lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 was launched in July and intended to soft-land on Moon's south pole. The mission was on course for a successful soft-landing when ISRO lost contact with Vikram lander in the last moment.&nbsp;</p>

<p>(<em>with inputs from ANI</em>)<br />
&nbsp;</p>


A Chennai-based amateur astronomer spent 8-10 hours a day to analyse moon's images which later helped NASA in locating ISRO's Vikram lander. NASA early on Tuesday said that it has found the debris of Chandrayaan-2 Vikram lander with the help of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

A Chennai-based amateur astronomer spent 8-10 hours a day to analyse moon's images which later helped NASA in locating ISRO's Vikram lander. NASA early on Tuesday said that it has found the debris of Chandrayaan-2 Vikram lander with the help of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). NASA further said that Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team with a "positive sign" of the lander's debris. The LROC team compared moon's images before and after Vikram lost contact which helped them to locate the lander. The #Chandrayaan2 Vikram lander has been found by our @NASAMoon mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. See the first mosaic of the impact site https://t.co/GA3JspCNuh pic.twitter.com/jaW5a63sAf — NASA (@NASA) December 2, 2019 × Subramanian tweeted on Tuesday morning that he received a mail from NASA which acknoweledged his help to find out the lander. The Vikram lander was scheduled to land on Moon on September 7 but ISRO lost contact with lander minutes before the touchdown. Subramanian said that he used to analyse images released by NASA's LROC to compare moon's earlier images with the ones after Vikram had lost contact. "I was spending something 8-10 hours each day for four to five hours on that. I stopped my research after I sent the tweet because I knew that this might be the probable debris," he said. He then shared his results with NASA on October 3. Subramanian is delighted with NASA's reponse which recognized his efforts. Earlier on Tuesday morning, NASA confirmed that its moon mission Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has found the Vikram lander. India's ambitious lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 was launched in July and intended to soft-land on Moon's south pole. The mission was on course for a successful soft-landing when ISRO lost contact with Vikram lander in the last moment. (with inputs from ANI)

Meet Chennai's astronomer, who helped NASA in detecting ISRO's Vikram lander