
from the much-harder-than-finding-a-needle-in-a-haystack dept.
NASA (USA's National Aeronautics and Space Administration) reports that India's Vikram Lander has been Found:
The Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander was targeted for a highland smooth plain about 600 kilometers from the south pole; unfortunately the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost contact with their lander shortly before the scheduled touchdown (Sept. 7 in India, Sept. 6 in the United States). Despite the loss, getting that close to the surface was an amazing achievement. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team released the first mosaic (acquired Sept. 17) of the site on Sept. 26 and many people have downloaded the mosaic to search for signs of Vikram. Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the LRO project with a positive identification of debris. After receiving this tip, the LROC team confirmed the identification by comparing before and after images. When the images for the first mosaic were acquired the impact point was poorly illuminated and thus not easily identifiable. Two subsequent image sequences were acquired on Oct. 14 and 15, and Nov. 11. The LROC team scoured the surrounding area in these new mosaics and found the impact site (70.8810°S, 22.7840°E, 834 m elevation) and associated debris field. The November mosaic had the best pixel scale (0.7 meter) and lighting conditions (72° incidence angle).
The debris first located by Shanmuga is about 750 meters northwest of the main crash site and was a single bright pixel identification in that first mosaic (1.3 meter pixels, 84° incidence angle). The November mosaic shows best the impact crater, ray and extensive debris field. The three largest pieces of debris are each about 2x2 pixels and cast a one pixel shadow.
See the NASA article for before/after pictures of the impact site.
Previously:
NASA Lunar Probe Will Help Search for India's Lost Moon Lander
Time is Running Out for India to Establish Contact With its Lunar Lander
India Locates Lander Lost on Final Approach to Moon
Chandrayaan-2: India's Vikram Lander Presumed to Have Crashed
Chandrayaan-2 Updates: Lunar Orbit Insertion and Lunar Orbit Maneuver
Chandrayaan-2 Launch: How to Watch First Mission to the Moon's South Pole Mon 20190722 @ 0913 UTC
Scrubbed Chandrayaan 2 Mission to Moon's South Pole to Launch on Mon July 22 0913 UTC
India's Lunar Spacecraft Launches Sunday on First-Ever Mission to Moon's South Pole
India to Launch Combined Orbiter/Lander/Rover Mission
India's Chandrayaan-2 Moon Mission Planned for 2018
Related Stories
India plans to put another orbiter around the Moon and land a rover for just $93 million (including launch costs):
In a large shed near the headquarters of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bangalore, a six-wheeled rover rumbles over dark grey rubble in a landscape designed to mimic the Moon's rocky surface. This test and others scheduled for the next few weeks are crucial steps in India's quest to launch a second mission to the Moon next March.
The country's much anticipated Chandrayaan-2 comes almost a decade after India began its first journey to the Moon, in 2008. "It is logically an extension of the Chandrayaan-1 mission," says Mylswamy Annadurai, director of the project at ISRO. The spacecraft comprises an orbiter that will travel around the Moon, a lander that will touch down in a as-yet undecided location near the Moon's south pole and a rover.
India's maiden Moon trip was a significant achievement for its space programme, but ended prematurely when ISRO lost contact with the orbiter ten months into the planned two-year mission. However, an instrument on a probe that reached the Moon's surface did gather enough data for scientists to confirm the presence of traces of water.
[...] ISRO plans to execute its mission on shoestring budget of just 6.03 billion rupees (US$93 million), including the cost of the rocket and launch. Chandrayaan-2 will be carried into space on one of the agency's three-stage rockets, a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II, taking off from a spaceport on the island of Sriharikota in the Bay of Bengal. "A nice part of the Indian space programme is that they manage to do things so cheaply," says ANU astrobiologist Charles Lineweaver. "If it succeeds, maybe everyone else will see that their mission didn't really need that extra bell or whistle."
The launch is scheduled for the first quarter of 2018.
Previously: Moon Wetter Than Previously Thought
The India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in July is planning to launch a triple-threat mission to the Moon. The Chandrayaan-2 mission, will launch July 14 at 5:51 p.m. EDT (2151 GMT).
The Chandrayaan-2 mission will include an orbiter, a lander "Vikram" and a rover "Pragyan".
After launch, Chandrayaan-2 will spend about 16 days orbiting Earth, raising its orbit slowly over time before heading to the moon, the Times of India reported. It should take the mission about five days to reach the moon, after which Chandryaan-2 will spend 27 days in lunar orbit before releasing the Vikram lander.
If all goes well, Vikram will touch down near the moon's south pole on Sept. 6 in what promises to be a harrowing 15-minute landing sequence, ISRO officials have said.
"The 15-minute operation - in which Vikram makes the final descent and soft-lands - will be the most terrifying as we have never attempted such a complex mission," ISRO chairman K Sivan said in a June 11 press conference according to the Times of India.
The solar-powered Vikram is expected to deploy the small Pragyan rover about four hours after landing. Together, the lander and rover are designed to last about one lunar day (14 Earth days) on the moon's surface, while the Chandrayaan-2 orbtier[sic] continues its mission for a full year, according to an ISRO overview.
Similar to the ill-fated Beresheet lander, the Vikram lander is carrying
a NASA experiment called the Laser Retro-reflector Array for Lunar Landers, a mirror-like device designed to reflect laser signals that can be used to pinpoint the Vikram lander's location and measure the distance between the Earth and moon.
In all the Orbiter, Lander, and Rover carry 13 different scientific instruments between them to study the moon from orbit and the surface, 8 of which are on the orbiter and will continue functioning long after the lander and rover.
India's Lunar Spacecraft Launches Sunday on First-Ever Mission to Moon's South Pole:
Fifty years after Armstrong and Aldrin first landed on the moon, a historic new moon landing mission is readying for launch. After several delays, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is set to launch the Chandrayaan-2 mission this Sunday with plans to become the first nation to land at the lunar south pole. It won't feature humans, but Chandrayaan-2 is carrying three lunar exploration robots able to survey the moon from both the surface and the sky.
The launch is currently scheduled for Sunday, July 14 at 2:21 p.m. PT [2121 UTC] and will take place at India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, north of Chennai. The payload of Chandrayaan-2 consists of a lunar orbiter, a lunar lander and a lunar rover, and will be launched atop the ISRO-developed GSLV Mk-III rocket. That rocket is about half as powerful as the SpaceX Falcon 9 and will put Chandrayaan-2 into what is known as an "Earth parking orbit" before the module uses its own power to extend its orbit and eventually position itself for a lunar rendezvous.
[...] Provided Chandrayaan-2 launches on time, it is expected to reach the moon on Sept. 6, 2019. If it can achieve the difficult feat of landing on the surface, India will become just the fourth nation to complete a soft landing in history, following the US, Russia and China, which currently has the Chang'e 4 rover operating on the far side of the moon.
The lander and rover are headed for the lunar south pole, exploring a scientifically important region that has been shown to contain water ice. The lunar lander, known as "Vikram," and a rover, known as "Pragyan," will set up shop in the south, far further than any previous mission to the moon. The proposed landing spot is between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N.
There is a YouTube video of the prior and proposed moon landing sites.
Scrubbed Chandrayaan 2 Mission to Moon's South Pole now set to Launch on July 22:
Chandrayaan 2, India's exploration mission to the moon's south pole, is set to fly to the moon on July 22. The launch, which has suffered several delays was originally scheduled for July 14, but the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) postponed Chandrayaan 2's departure less than an hour before launch due to a "technical snag."
The landmark mission is now set to depart a few days after the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, humanity's first crewed lunar landing, with the goal of making the first soft landing at the lunar south pole. India's mission isn't slated to feature humans, rather, Chandrayaan 2 is carrying three lunar exploration robots -- a lander, rover and orbiter -- that will be able to survey the moon from both the surface and the sky.
The launch is set to take place at India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, north of Chennai, at the revised (and slightly unfriendly time) of 2:13 a.m. PT (5:13 a.m. ET), Monday July 22.
The payload of Chandrayaan-2 consists of a lunar orbiter, a lunar lander and a lunar rover and will be launched atop the ISRO-developed GSLV Mk-III rocket. That rocket is about half as powerful as the SpaceX Falcon 9 and will put Chandrayaan-2 into what's known as an "Earth parking orbit" before the module uses its own power to extend its orbit and eventually position itself for a lunar rendezvous.
How to watch the Chandrayaan-2 launch
Want to tune in to the historic mission? During the first run of the mission on July 14, ISRO handled livestreaming duties across its social media pages, which meant you could tune in at the ISRO Twitter or follow along on the agency's Facebook page. India's public broadcaster Doordarshan also carried a livestream on its YouTube channel. There's plenty of options and it's a good bet they will all be on the table for the rescheduled launch -- but until we get official confirmation of the new launch date and time, we can't be certain.
(Emphasis in original retained.)
Chandrayaan-2 Launch: How to Watch First Mission to the Moon's South Pole:
India's exploration mission to the moon is readying for launch. The Chandrayaan-2 mission, aiming to put robots at the lunar south pole for the first time, has suffered several delays leading up to lift-off. It was originally scheduled for July 14 but the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) postponed the departure less than an hour before launch due to a "technical snag."
The landmark mission is now set to depart from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, north of Chennai, at 2:13 a.m. PT (5:13 a.m. ET), Monday July 22. [...] Chandrayaan-2 is carrying three lunar exploration robots that will be able to survey the moon from both the surface and the sky.
The payload of Chandrayaan-2 consists of a lunar orbiter, a lunar lander and a lunar rover and will be launched atop the ISRO-developed GSLV Mk-III rocket. That rocket is about half as powerful as the SpaceX Falcon 9 and will put Chandrayaan-2 into what's known as an "Earth parking orbit" before the module uses its own power to extend that orbit and eventually position itself for a lunar rendezvous.
Want to tune in to the historic mission? ISRO will handle livestreaming duties across its social media pages, which means you could tune in at the ISRO Twitter or follow along on the agency's Facebook page. The agency's YouTube channel is also covering the event.
The launch is also to be carried by the Indian public broadcaster Doordarshan's YouTube channel.
Previously: Scrubbed Chandrayaan 2 Mission to Moon's South Pole to Launch on Mon July 22 0913 UTC.
August 20, 2019
Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver was completed successfully today (August 20, 2019). The duration of maneuver was 1738 seconds beginning from 0902 hrs IST. With this, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit. The orbit achieved is 114 km x 18072 km.
Following this, a series of orbit maneuvers will be performed on Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft to enable it to enter its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon's surface.
Subsequently, the lander will separate from the Orbiter and enters into a 100 km X 30 km orbit around the Moon. Then, it will perform a series of complex braking maneuvers to soft land in the South polar region of the Moon on September 7, 2019.
The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Bylalu, near Bengaluru. All the systems of Chandrayaan-2 are healthy.
The next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled tomorrow (August 21, 2019) between 1230-13:30 hrs IST.
August 21, 2019
Second Lunar bound orbit maneuver for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully today (August 21, 2019) beginning at 1250 hrs IST as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of the maneuver was 1228 seconds. The orbit achieved is 118 km x 4412 km.
All spacecraft parameters are normal.
The next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled on August 28, 2019 between 0530 - 0630 hrs IST.
Previously:
Chandrayaan-2 Launch: How to Watch First Mission to the Moon's South Pole Mon 20190722 @ 0913 UTC
Scrubbed Chandrayaan 2 Mission to Moon's South Pole to Launch on Mon July 22 0913 UTC
India's Lunar Spacecraft Launches Sunday on First-Ever Mission to Moon's South Pole
India to Launch Combined Orbiter/Lander/Rover Mission
ISRO lose contact with Chandrayaan-2 lander during final descent
Following a historic July 22 launch on a GSLV Mk-III rocket from the east coast of India, the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft – the robotic lander and rover, specifically – attempted a soft landing on the surface of the Moon on Friday. All was proceeding to plan until just 2km above the surface when telemetry was lost and the vehicle will have likely crashed into the lunar surface.
[...] The Vikram lander was aiming to softly touch down about 350 kilometers (218 miles) away from the South Pole-Aitken Basin rim on Friday evening. However, with all proceeding to plan, including the braking phase of the mission ahead of final descent, telemetry was lost.
[...] Although no explanation was provided, it is clear the mission has failed.
Also at NYT and India Today.
Previously: Chandrayaan-2 Updates: Lunar Orbit Insertion and Lunar Orbit Maneuver
The lander module from India's moon mission was located on the lunar surface on Sunday, one day after it lost contact with the space station, and efforts are underway to try to establish contact with it, the head of the nation's space agency said.
The Press Trust of India news agency cited Indian Space and Research Organization chairman K. Sivan as saying cameras from the moon mission's orbiter had located the lander. "It must have been a hard landing," PTI quoted Sivan as saying.
[...] The space agency said it lost touch with the Vikram lunar lander on Saturday as it made its final approach to the moon's south pole to deploy a rover to search for signs of water.
A successful landing would have made India just the fourth country to land a vessel on the lunar surface, and only the third to operate a robotic rover there.
The space agency said Saturday that the lander's descent was normal until 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the lunar surface.
Previously: Chandrayaan-2: India's Vikram Lander Presumed to Have Crashed
Time is running out for engineers from the Indian space program to establish contact with the troubled Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander.
[...] Communications were lost with the lander during this time and have not been re-established since.
Officials at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) were able to locate the lander on the moon last week, and they have been trying to re-establish communications with the hope of saving either the Vikram lander or the Pragyan rover inside it. There is a time window they need to consider, however. The lander and rover were both designed to last for one lunar day, which is the equivalent of 14 days here on Earth. With a week passed since the landing date, the ISRO engineers have only one more week to get in contact with the lander before it runs out of power.
Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/india-lunar-lander-time/
From www.space.com
[...] ISRO officials have not yet released the Chandrayaan-2 image of Vikram on the lunar surface or described the potential condition of the lander. But they have said that despite the lander's presumed failed moon landing, the craft has already demonstrated key technologies for future missions.
"The Vikram Lander followed the planned descent trajectory from its orbit of 35 km (22 miles) to just below 2 km above the surface," ISRO officials wrote in an update Saturday (Sept. 7). "All the systems and sensors of the Lander functioned excellently until this point and proved many new technologies such as variable thrust propulsion technology used in the Lander."
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
What exactly happened to India's moon lander? During descent to the lunar surface on Sept. 6, the Vikram lander lost contact with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission control and its ultimate fate remains something of a mystery. However, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will fly over Vikram's landing site near the moon's south pole Tuesday and could give us the first look at Vikram's lunar resting place.
[...]The camera on LRO has three different imagers, enabling it to ogle the moon's surface with exceptional clarity. One wide angle camera and two black-and-white cameras will beam back images to Earth after the pass. NASA releases LRO images publicly with huge multi-terabyte data sets dropping every month at the Planetary Data System.
"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 project lead Noah Petro told Spaceflight Now on Thursday.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday December 03 2019, @10:44AM (3 children)
"Everything is air-droppable at least once" [schlockmercenary.com]
we can't manage all the debris and dead satellites in orbit, so we're not going to get around to cleaning this up any time soon.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday December 03 2019, @01:56PM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Hyperturtle on Tuesday December 03 2019, @03:20PM (1 child)
I'm still sort of surprised at how the positive spin issued by India at the time the probe contact was lost that they had kept stating that it had actually landed, and engineers are still transmitting commands so that when the time is ideal, the commands will already be on their way and science will continue as planned, etc. I guess they had to put on a brave face.
This was despite all of the growing descriptions and non-optimistic expectations set by other authorities that perhaps a hard landing (ie--crater making scenario with complete loss of lander due to said crater creation), the India space agency was just so... optimistic. I would be reluctant to let go, too, but I am more of a realist perhaps.
I was reminded very much of how various IT projects I have had the pleasure of being a part of (or was an unwilling participant) had some outsourced firms where the teams, when confronted with problems or changes... insisted nothing was late or behind or possibly in peril, even if the servers crashed as hard as this probe, the network was down, and holidays, vacations, or double booked engineers resulted in experienced people being unreachable.
The greatest of ambition and optimism is expressed, but sometimes, not always the best execution. Sometimes what was intended and worked just fine on a white board is entirely unlike what happened on the ground (or fell from space, as the case may be) and required actions not included in the assessments.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday December 03 2019, @05:49PM
You forgot the best part!
I was watching it and at the time the animation based upon their own telemetry (although it may of been an extrapolation it certainly looks like they were getting telemetry) showed the lander spinning and the course plot deviating from the planned course.
https://youtu.be/5xKJG00-S_c?t=366 [youtu.be]
Although my link starts at this point, as it's a Scott Manley video it's quite interesting to watch the whole thing.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 03 2019, @03:57PM (1 child)
"Vikram Crater"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Tuesday December 03 2019, @04:00PM
REQUIESCAT IN PARTES
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Bot on Tuesday December 03 2019, @03:57PM (6 children)
getting that close to the surface was an amazing achievement.
whereas in 69 they landed and returned back home using way less than the computing power of a gameboy, hm?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 03 2019, @04:06PM (2 children)
It's too bad the decent parachute failed to deploy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 03 2019, @05:29PM
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday December 03 2019, @08:56PM
Too bad they didn't have a descent parachute.
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday December 03 2019, @05:58PM
Considering the Gameboy had more processing power and memory than the Cray 1 supercomputer in 1976, it makes the 1969 landing even more impressive.
A modern cellphone could of run all of NASA, the spaceship, lander and play Angry Birds.....🚀
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @12:49AM (1 child)
> whereas in 69 they landed and returned back home using way less than the computing power of a gameboy
Correction: Neil Armstrong saw the LEM was headed for a boulder field, took manual control and then "they landed" on the moon. Armstrong had extensive practice flying the LEM flying simulator built by Bell Aircraft:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Landing_Research_Vehicle [wikipedia.org]
Neil Armstrong had considerably more computing power (and intelligence) than a gameboy!
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday December 05 2019, @05:56AM
yeah but manual corrections could be issued from earth with a 5 sec. lag which is not bad.
so the 69 mission had crude sensors, basic modeling and smaller lag, while this had better materials sensors models and a 5s lag with operations at 1/6th the gravity. Fucked it up, they could anyway, but this was a trainwreck.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 03 2019, @03:59PM (2 children)
Moon kilometers, or Indian kilometers, or UK kilometers, or . . .
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday December 03 2019, @08:59PM
Which is why we should just stick with yards and miles. :-)
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday December 04 2019, @10:23AM
It's 0.006 lakh kilometers.
(Score: -1) by MyOpinion on Thursday December 05 2019, @01:30PM
"space", as portrayed in that link, is a second law of thermodynamics violation. Cannot exist.
Pressurized gas only exists inside (and because of) a container: if you claim the opposite, then it is on you to practically demonstrate an instance that backs up your claim.
Truth is like a Lion: you need not defend it; let it loose, and it defends itself. https://discord.gg/3FScNwc