India locates moon lander lost on final approach to surface
- 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 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 Organisation 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.
ISRO officials could not be reached for comment.
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.