This archive report was first published on 3 December 2019.
On December 3, 2019, NASA announced that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter had found the remains of India's Vikram lander, which crashed on the lunar surface in September 2019.
The lander was part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which aimed to make India the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon.
Launched in July 2019, the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft carried the Vikram lander, which was designed to touch down on the lunar south pole.
However, the lander lost contact with the spacecraft just 2.1 kilometers above the lunar surface, and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was unable to establish communication with it.
Despite the failure, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was able to locate the lander's debris field, which spans several kilometers and includes parts scattered over almost two dozen locations.
A private individual, Shanmuga Subramanian, contacted NASA with a positive identification of debris, which was found about 750 meters northwest of the main crash site.
