Chandrayaan 2: Shanmuga Subramanian, who discovered Vikram Lander of India's Chandrayaan-2 mission to the moon last year, has made another discovery. He has expressed the possibility that Chandrayaan-2's Rover Pragyaan had landed safely on the moon.
On 22 July last year, India launched its ambitious Chandrayaan-2 mission and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) sent its vehicle to the dark part of the moon. However, its lander Vikram could not comfortably land on the lunar surface and lost contact with the earth. Later, after seeing images from the US space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Engineer Shanmuga Subramanian of Chennai discovered Lander Vikram on the lunar surface. What appeared in those pictures was considered to be Vikram's wreck. However, in the latest LRO photos, Shan has again discovered that even though Vikram's landing was not as desirable, it is possible that Chandrayaan-2's rover Pragyan stepped right on the surface of the moon. Shaan has explained this whole story in conversation with Shatakshi Asthana for Navbharat Times Online-
Shaan discovered Vikram Lander
NASA's LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) photographed three times last year where the lander and its debris were found. In the photographs taken from the LRO on September 17, October 14 and November 11, the marks found at the landing site were believed to be from the wreck. Shaan himself spotted Vikram Lander in LRO's photographs, which was confirmed by NASA and thanked him.
New photos surprised
However, this story did not end there. The pictures taken on 4 January this year showed something different when Shan studied it. This time some distance away from Vikram also showed something which was different from before. Shaan believes that it was Rover Prajna inside Vikram. Apart from the debris in that area, this picture is seen for the first time.
Where was Pragya till now?
Actually, where Vikram was about to land is the part of the moon where the light is very low. Earlier, when the LRO took pictures of that area, the rover did not appear due to the lack of light and the different angles of the sun. Shaan says that this time the light on the part of the moon was more than before and this light on different angles hit the rover and due to this reflection it could be seen this time. Shan has informed ISRO and NASA about this and is awaiting confirmation.
So what was shown earlier?
Chandrayaan-2 carried a total of 13 payloads out of which 3 were on lander and 2 on the rover. Shan says that the debris that was previously shown to NASA and to them is likely to be of this payload. Shan explains that the debris he was shown may be of Langmuir probes. At the same time, the debris that NASA showed could be the antenna in the lander, the second payload, the retro breaking engine, or the solar panel.
So is knowledge safe?
The special thing is that Vikram's rough landing took place on the lunar surface, not the crash landing. That is, there is a possibility that even if the lander was badly hit on the surface and its communication stopped, the rover intelligence remained safe inside it. Later, he got out of Vikram according to the previously programmed method and went some distance. Shan says that the rover is less likely to be thrown out of the lander due to a collision on the surface. It is possible that the rover had exited the lander correctly. This is because the track between the lander and rover can be seen in the photos. If the rover collided and fell out, it was less likely to become such a track. However, Shan says that NASA or ISRO can only confirm this.
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