---
title: "India Finds Lost Moon Lander, Tries to Establish Contact"
description: "India may have lost all communication with its Vikram lunar lander after making its approach last week — but not all may be lost."
date: "2019-09-09"
modified: "2019-09-09"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-finds-lost-moon-lander"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Moon"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "chandrayaan-2"
  - "india"
  - "lunar lander"
  - "the digest"
---

# India Finds Lost Moon Lander, Tries to Establish Contact

![India may have lost all communication with its Vikram lunar lander after making its approach last week — but not all may be lost.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/india-finds-lost-moon-lander.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: ISRO\</em\>*

## Ground Control

India may have [lost communication](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-lost-communication-lunar-lander>) with its Vikram lunar lander during its final descent Friday — but it's possible that not all is lost.

The Indian space agency says it's spotted its lander using the orbiter that traveled to the Moon along with it, [according to the *Associated Press*](<https://apnews.com/8533918d2dd348d6819057968182c6f4>). But chances that Vikram is still operational, though tantalizing, are slim.

"Yes, we have located the lander on the lunar surface," said Indian space program chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan in a [local news report](<https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/vikram-lander-located-did-not-soft-land-on-moon-isro/articleshow/71037009.cms>). "It must have been a hard landing.”

## Stick the Landing

That means India still has an — albeit small — chance of becoming the fourth country in history to softly land a spacecraft on the lunar surface, after launching its Chandrayaan-2 mission from Earth in July and entering lunar orbit on August 20.

And even if Vikram perished during its descent, India has demonstrated its ability to send a spacecraft to the Moon's orbit and to make a controlled approach — it just didn't stick the landing this time around.

**READ MORE:** [India locates lander lost on final approach to moon](<https://apnews.com/8533918d2dd348d6819057968182c6f4>) \[*Associated Press*\]

**More on the lander:** *[Breaking: India Has Lost Communication With Lunar Lander](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-lost-communication-lunar-lander>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)