---
title: "NASA Spots Remains of India’s Lost Lunar Lander"
description: "NASA just announced that it finally found the crash site debris and remains of India's long lost lunar lander called Vikram."
date: "2019-12-02"
modified: "2019-12-03"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-india-lunar-lander-remains"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "india"
  - "lunar lander"
  - "moon"
  - "NASA"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Spots Remains of India’s Lost Lunar Lander

![NASA just announced that it finally found the crash site debris and remains of India's long lost lunar lander called Vikram.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/nasa-spots-india-lost-lunar-lander.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Debris Field

NASA [announced](<https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2019/vikram-lander-found>) Monday that it had finally found the crash site of India's lost lunar lander, Vikram. Images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera show the lander's crash site about 600 km from the Moon's south pole, shown below, including an impact point and field of debris surrounding it.

The finding corroborated a discovery first made by an [amateur space enthusiast](<https://phys.org/news/2019-12-nasa-indian-moon-lander-amateur.html>) named Shanmuga "Shan" Subramanian.

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/vikram_impact_ratio_1100.png>)

## Saying Goodbye

Vikram was part of India's Chandrayaan-2 mission to send an orbiter, lander, and rover to the Moon's surface. Those ambitions were cut short when the Indian Space Research Organization [lost touch](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-lost-communication-lunar-lander>) with the lander as it was approaching the lunar surface on September 7 after being released by the orbiter.

Two and a half months after the agency lost contact, the ISRO finally [admitted the lander crashed](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-admits-moon-lander-crashed>) — a week before NASA discovered the lander's crash site.

## Amazing Achievement

The lander, with an orbiter and a rover called Pragyaan in tow, launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on July 15. The orbiter is currently in full operation.

The lander was set to make India only the fourth country after the U.S., the USSR, and China to softly land a manmade object on the Moon.

"Despite the loss, getting that close to the surface was an amazing achievement," reads [NASA's statement](<https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2019/vikram-lander-found>).

*Editor's note 12/3/19: A previous version of this article attributed the discovery to NASA. In fact, the first person to make the identification was an amateur space enthusiast Shanmuga "Shan" Subramania. It has been updated.*

**READ MORE:** [NASA discovers shattered remains of India's doomed moon lander](<https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-discovers-shattered-remains-of-indias-doomed-moon-lander/>) \[*CNET*\]

**More on Vikram:** *[India Finally Admits Its Moon Lander Crashed](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-admits-moon-lander-crashed>)*

## 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>)