To help Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) analyse the Chandrayaan 2 mission, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) probe will take photos of lander Vikram on the lunar surface. A NASA lunar probe is scheduled to fly over Vikram lander's landing site today. It will release images of the lander lying on the lunar surface. However, there are concerns that the fading sunlight might result in blurry images of the lander.
It is unclear when the orbiter will fly over the landing site.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will share images to help ISRO analyse what went wrong and right with the Chandrayaan 2 mission. "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 Organisation," said Noah Petro, LRO's project scientist.
The LRO had managed to collect data during Chandrayaan 2's lander's descent as well in the early hours of September 7. Speaking at an event in the US recently, a NASA official said that the LRO studied changes to the Moon's atmosphere caused by the rocket effluent released during Vikram lander's descent.
NASA had also tried communicating with lander Vikram a few days ago. The agency's Jet Propulsion laboratory beamed a radio frequency to the lander in the hope of receiving some response.
It has already been 10 days since the Vikram lander went silent at a crucial juncture of the Chandrayaan 2 mission. ISRO has another four days to establish communication with lander before the region becomes too cold for the lander to operate.
Also read: Chandrayaan 2: NASA attempts to make contact with lander Vikram on the Moon