December 29, 2024 08:18 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
India mourns as nation bids farewell to Manmohan Singh with full state honours | Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet passes 'Condolence Resolution' on passing of ex-PM Manmohan Singh | Space will be allocated for Manmohan Singh's memorial, announces Centre | He was my friend, philosopher, and guide: Sonia Gandhi remembers Manmohan Singh in an emotional post | Vladimir Putin condoles Manmohan Singh's death, calls him 'outstanding statesman' | Congress writes to PM Modi seeking space for building a memorial to Manmohan Singh | Manmohan Singh will be remembered as a kind person, a learned economist, and a leader dedicated to reforms: PM Modi | Russian ambassador to India Denis Alipov grieves Manmohan Singh's demise | Mumbai terror attack shook Manmohan Singh badly, recalls former deputy NSA | I have lost a mentor and guide: Rahul Gandhi writes on Manmohan Singh's demise

India techie Shanmuga Subramanian's tweet on NASA's recognition goes viral

| @indiablooms | Dec 03, 2019, at 04:39 pm

New Delhi/IBNS:  A tweet by Chennai-based engineer Shanmuga Subramanian, where he shared that US space agency NASA has credited him for finding Vikram Lander on Moon's surface, has gone viral on the micro-blogging site.

In the past 11 hours, since he posted the tweet, more than 20800 likes and 7300 retweets.

It has also earned 1600 comments till the report was filed.

NASA on Tuesday said its satellite orbiting the Moon has found debris of Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-2  which had crashed on the lunar surface in September.

NASA also shared an image that showed the impact site of the lander.

The US space agency identified Chennai-based engineer Shanmuga Subramanian who had spent hours comparing before and after images of the landing site and helped in the  positive identification of debris.   

The Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander was targeted for a highland smooth plain about 600 kilometers from the south pole; unfortunately the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost contact with their lander shortly before the scheduled touchdown (Sept. 7 in India, Sept. 6 in the United States).  Despite the loss, getting that close to the surface was an amazing achievement, NASA said.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team released the first mosaic (acquired Sept. 17) of the site on Sept. 26 and many people have downloaded the mosaic to search for signs of Vikram, read the NASA website.

Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the LRO project with a positive identification of debris.

After receiving this tip, the LROC team confirmed the identification by comparing before and after images.

When the images for the first mosaic were acquired the impact point was poorly illuminated and thus not easily identifiable.

Two subsequent image sequences were acquired on Oct. 14 and 15, and Nov. 11.

The LROC team scoured the surrounding area in these new mosaics and found the impact site (70.8810°S,  22.7840°E, 834 m elevation) and associated debris field.

The November mosaic had the best pixel scale (0.7 meter) and lighting conditions (72° incidence angle).

The debris first located by Shanmuga is about 750 meters northwest of the main crash site and was a single bright pixel identification in that first mosaic (1.3 meter pixels, 84° incidence angle).

The November mosaic shows best the impact crater, ray and extensive debris field. The three largest pieces of debris are each about 2x2 pixels and cast a one pixel shadow.

Meanwhile, Subramanian said he always had passion for space science.

"I worked hard tracking the intended path of Vikram lander," Subramanian told NDTV. "I am excited. It was lots of hard work. I've always had a passion for space science. I would never miss a launch," the space enthusiast said.

Image: Shanmuga Subramanian Twitter page

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Close menu