India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter has played a pivotal role in confirming the fate of Japan’s private lunar lander, Resilience, which was built by ispace for the HAKUTO-R Mission 2.

The lander, aiming for a soft touchdown in the Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) region in the Moon’s northern hemisphere, lost contact with mission control in Tokyo during its descent on June 6, 2025. The abrupt loss of communications and telemetry left the global space community searching for answers about the lander’s fate.

Discovery And Identification

Space enthusiast Shanmuga Subramanian, renowned for previously locating India’s Vikram lander in 2019, meticulously analysed high-resolution images captured by Chandrayaan-2’s Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC). With an impressive 0.25-meter resolution—the highest achieved by any lunar orbiter—the OHRC images revealed the crash site and scattered debris of the Resilience lander. Subramanian identified bright reflections and unusual patterns in the impact area, which matched the expected appearance of spacecraft fragments. This provided the first visual confirmation of the lander’s hard landing since contact was lost.

Technical Details And Imagery


The images show a distinct impact site with debris scattered several meters from the main crash location. The crash created a dark smudge on the lunar surface, surrounded by a faint bright halo—evidence of Regolith (lunar dust and rocks) being kicked up by the impact. While ISRO has not yet officially released the images, the findings have been widely circulated and praised for their clarity and scientific value.

Chandrayaan-2’s imaging capabilities have previously been recognized for supporting international lunar missions. Notably, Japan used data from the orbiter to help select the final landing site for its SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) mission.

Cause of The Crash

Initial findings from ispace indicate that the crash was due to a malfunction in the lander’s laser rangefinder, which is responsible for measuring the distance to the lunar surface. The instrument experienced delays in obtaining valid measurement values, preventing the lander from decelerating adequately during its final descent. As a result, Resilience impacted the surface at high speed, leading to its destruction.

International Collaboration And Additional Confirmation

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) also captured images of the crash site, corroborating the findings from Chandrayaan-2. The LRO images show a dark spot with a light ring, further confirming the disturbance caused by the lander’s impact. The crash site was determined to be approximately 2.4 kilometers from the intended landing location.

The discovery underscores the growing role of independent analysts and high-resolution lunar orbiters in global space exploration. Chandrayaan-2’s success in locating the debris highlights the mission’s advanced technological capabilities and its contribution to international lunar science.

Ispace is scheduled to provide a detailed update on the technical cause of the crash at a press conference on June 24, 2025.

The identification of the Resilience crash site by Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter, aided by amateur astronomer Shanmuga Subramanian, marks a significant achievement in lunar reconnaissance and international space cooperation.

The findings offer crucial insights for future lunar missions and reinforce the importance of high-resolution orbital imaging in unravelling the mysteries of space exploration failures.

Based On Mashable Report