Chandrayaan-1 Located By NASA, What We Need To Know About The Indian Lunar Orbiter

NASA recently revealed that the long lost Indian Lunar Orbiter has been found. The Chandrayaan-1 has lost in contact last 2009. This has been the first lunar orbiter of India.

According to a report, NASA has discovered the Chandrayaan-1 in July 2016. This discovery happened right after testing a method for future lunar missions. The said lunar orbiter is a tiny cubic probe that it only measures five feet in all of its sides.

The team of Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists conducted a radar experiment to locate the Chandrayaan-1. They used this technique in order to know if small asteroids can be located by this ground-based radar. They also needed to find out if the spacecraft orbiting the moon can be located the same way.

A report indicated that the same process has made it easy to locate the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter (LRO). The mission's navigator has an exact location of the orbiter. The Chandrayaan-1, on the other hand, had been challenging for the scientists to find. The reason for the challenge was that it had been lost since 2009 and the orbiter is small.

This interplanetary radar has been made to be used in locating asteroids several million miles from the Earth. The scientists, however, were not sure if it can detect smaller objects far away from the Earth. It is indicated that this new technology is useful for future moon exhibitions.

Meanwhile, it is reported that despite the obstacles in finding the Chandrayaan-1, it was located where scientists expected it to be. The spacecraft has been found in a polar orbit about 125 miles. That is also 200 kilometers above the lunar surface.

In the meantime, the Chandrayaan-1 had an impactor that was released from the orbiter in November 2008. It then found evidence of water ice on the lunar surface. India is also set to launch the second mission for Chandrayaan-2 in 2018.