Chandrayaan-2: Nasa lunar orbiter to fly over Vikram landing site, take photos in new attempt to spot lander

A lunar rover operated by the United States is scheduled to fly over the landing site of the Chandrayaan-2 lander Vikram sometime on Monday. Communication with Vikram was lost during the Chandrayaan-2 lander's attempt to land on the Moon on September 7. Vikram is likely dead now after a cold lunar night during which its instruments were probably frozen out of operation.

This is the second time the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter -- operated by the US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- will fly over Vikram's landing site and attempt to take pictures.

The LRO previously flew over Vikram's landing site on September 17 (10 days after the lander lost contact) and took pictures of the area.

However, the photographs were shot at a time when it was dusk in the south polar region of the Moon where Vikram attempted landing, and so, the Chandrayaan-2 lander was not clearly visible in the images.

Then, Nasa had indicated that Vikram could be hiding in the long shadows present on the lunar surface.

Nasa had also said that its LRO would fly over Vikram's landing site again on October 14.

Lighting conditions during the LRO's second fly-past over Vikram's landing site are expected to be better than on September 17 and so, could offer clues about the Chandrayaan-2 lander's physical condition.

Pakistan tries to implicate Indian cook

Pakistan's efforts to implicate India and Indian nationals over terror-related crimes has resulted in the country now targeting an Indian cook.

According to diplomats and foreign ministry officials, Pakistan, with the help of its all-weather ally China has moved the UN Security Council under resolution 1267 (the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, or the 1267 Sanctions Committee as it is now known) seeking action against Indian national Ajoy Mistry who it describes as an Islamic State terrorist targeting Pakistan.

Islamabad's proposal to add Mistry in the ISIL and al Qaida Sanctions List has been circulated by the chair of the 1267 Committee to the other members this month, the diplomats added.

Last month, the United States blocked another China-sponsored proposal by Pakistan to designate Venumadhav Dongara, an Indian engineer working on transmission lines in Afghanistan, as a global terrorist by the 1267 committee.

As reported by HT, Islamabad filed an FIR against him in Peshawar on March 11, 2019 on charges of supplying weapons, ammunitions and explosives to the Tariq Gidar terror group, which allegedly attacked Peshawar air base on September 18, 2015.

Fearing that Pakistan may want to make Dongara the next Kulbushan Jadhav, Indian security agencies evacuated the engineer from Afghanistan on September 8. Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer turned businessman was allegedly picked up by Pakistan's spy agency in Iran. He was sentenced to death but the International Court of Justice this year stayed the execution and has asked Pakistan to review the entire case.