As deline to re-establish communication with Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander nears, NASA's Moon orbiter has captured ims of lunar region where Indian mission me an unsuccessful attempt to soft-land, a senior official with US ncy confirmed on Thursday. 

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) craft has snapped a series of ims during its flyby on September 17 of Vikram's attempted landing sight near Moon's uncharted south pole. It flew over area of Vikram landing site when local lunar time was near dusk; large shows covered much of area, LRO Mission deputy project scientist John Keller said in a statement to PTI.  probability of establishing contact with lander has a deline of September 21 because after that Moon region will enter into a lunar night.

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" LRO Camera acquired ims around targeted landing site, but exact location of lander was t kwn so lander may t be in camera field of view," Keller said.

" LROC team will analyse se new ims and compare m to previous ims to see if lander is visible (it may be in show or outside imd area)," Keller said.

LRO's next flight over landing on October 14

LRO will next fly over landing site on October 14 when lighting conditions will be more favourable. NASA will make results of September 17 flyover available as soon as possible after a necessary period of validation, analysis, and review, Keller said.

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Pragyan functional only for 14 days from day of touchdown

According to Indian Research Organisation (ISRO), lander Vikram and rover Pragyan were supposed to be functional only for 14 days from day of ir touchdown. At start of mission, ISRO said mission life of lander and rover will be one lunar day which is equal to 14 Earth days, whereas that of orbiter will be one Earth year.

nights on Moon can be very cold, especially in south polar region where Vikram is lying. Temperatures could drop to as low as minus 200 degrees Celsius during lunar night.

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instruments aboard lander are t designed to withstand that kind of temperature. electronics would t work and would get permanently damd. refore, if connection is established in next two days, ISRO may have to give up hope to establish connection with lander.

In early hours of September 7, ISRO's plan to soft-land Chandrayaan-2's Vikram module on lunar surface did t go as per script. lander lost communication with ground stations during its final descent. ISRO officials said that orbiter of Chandrayaan-2 remained healthy and safe. A NASA spokesperson h earlier said that ncy will share any before and after flyover imry of area around targeted Chandrayaan-2 landing site to support analysis by ISRO. 

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