Chennai amateur astronomer discovers Vikram Lander debris, gets credited by NASA

Hyderabad: Chennai-based amateur astronomer Shanmuga Subramanian has achieved something significant for India’s space mission. He discovered debris of Vikram Lander, which has duly been acknowledged by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The mechanical engineer and space enthusiast, who works for an IT firm in Chennai, sent an email to NASA and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), saying that he thinks he has found the Vikram Lander debris. NASA responded to him via email Tuesday morning in which it congratulated Subramanian and confirmed that what he has found is actually Vikram Lander.

The #Chandrayaan2 Vikram lander has been found by our @NASAMoon mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. See the first mosaic of the impact site https://t.co/GA3JspCNuh pic.twitter.com/jaW5a63sAf

— NASA (@NASA) December 2, 2019

Subramanian discovered a small dot in one of the photos which he sourced from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.

NASA had released images of Vikram Lander impact site asking people to compare it with old photos of the same area taken from their LRO camera. Shanmuga went through these images and tweeted tagging NASA and ISRO if what he has found could be Vikram Lander debris, and today NASA found that he has pointed it out correct.

Shanmuga started his search from September 7 a day after the ISRO lost contact with the Vikram Lander, has been active on twitter and has been continually sharing images asking NASA and ISRO if what he has found could be a Vikram Lander.

He said that “Every day night I used to go through the photos and spend around six to eight hours and finally I found a white spot, which I thought could be Vikram Lander debris.”

Twitter has gone abuzz after his finding and is trending with #VikramLander.

Vikram Lander went missing in September after it crash-landed in the south pole of the moon and ISRO lost contact with it. The latest finding can boost ISRO search.