NASA has found no evidence of Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander in the latest images captured by its Moon orbiter of the lunar south pole region where India’s ambitious mission attempted a historic soft landing, the US space agency said today. On September 7, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) attempted a soft landing of Vikram on the uncharted lunar south pole, before losing communication with the lander.
The Vikram lander was set to have a mission life of one lunar day, or 14 earth days, ending on the morning of September 21. The instruments aboard the lander are not designed to withstand the cold temperature which could drop to as low as minus 200 degrees Celsius during the lunar night. The lander will run out of power if its solar panels were not deployed during the hard landing.