NASA fails to locate Vikram lander

A NASA satellite currently orbiting the moon has reportedly failed to spot the Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander near the South Polar region, where it fell silent after having lost contact with Earth in its attempt to make a soft-landing on the moon on 7 September.

The US space agency has said that the lander may not have been in the field of view of the camera on-board its orbiter.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been orbiting the moon for 10 years, passed over the Vikram landing site on Tuesday.

"The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) acquired images around the targeted landing site, but the exact location of the lander was not known so the lander may not be in the camera field of view," said Joshua A Handal, public affairs officer, planetary science division, NASA, in an email.