NASA finds debris of Chandrayaan 2's Vikram lander on Moon
Washington: NASA's Moon-orbiting spacecraft has found the debris of Chandrayaan 2's lander Vikram on the surface of the Moon, the US space agency confirmed on Tuesday, nearly three months after India's ambitious mission made a hard landing near the uncharted lunar south pole.
On September 7, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) attempted a soft landing of Vikram on the Moon. However, ISRO lost contact with Vikram shortly before the scheduled touchdown.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Camera team released the first mosaic, acquired on September 17, of the site on September 26.
Indian Engineer Shanmuga Subramanian contacted NASA's project after which, the US space agency confirmed the identification of debris by comparing before and after images.
"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," NASA said in a statement.
The two subsequent image sequences were acquired on October 14 and 15, and on November 11, NASA said.
The LROC team scoured the surrounding area in these new mosaics and found the impact site (70.8810 degrees South, 22.7840 degrees East) and associated debris field.
According to NASA, the November mosaic had the best pixel scale (0.7 metre) and lighting conditions (72 degrees 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," NASA said in a statement.
The November mosaic shows best the impact crater, ray and extensive debris field, NASA said, adding that the three largest pieces of debris are each about 2x2 pixels and cast a one-pixel shadow.
Ever since ISRO lost contact with Vikram, NASA has made several attempts to locate the Chandrayaan-2 lander with the help of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The LRO flew over Vikram's landing site once on September 17 and next on October 14.
The ambitious Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon was launched in July. If the spacecraft had reached the surface in one piece on September 7, India would have been only the fourth country to successfully put a lander on the Moon.
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Goa police arrest man from Bengaluru for cyber bullying woman and extortion
Panaji (PTI): The Goa cyber crime police have arrested a man from Bengaluru on charges of cyber bullying a woman and extortion after posting a fake job advertisement online, an official said on Sunday.
Following a complaint by the Goa-based woman, the cyber crime team arrested the accused, Mohan Raj V (29), on Saturday after laying a trap, a police spokesperson said.
The victim in her complaint claimed the accused published a fake job advertisement for a vacancy at a foreign bank and contacted her through a chatting app, he said.
"The accused lured her into attending an online interview via video call, during which some persons, posing as representatives of the company, coerced her to undress, recorded the video and took screenshots," the spokesman said.
The accused then began to blackmail the woman, demanding sexual favours to delete the compromising material, he said.
The woman alleged that the accused harassed her for the past two months and demanded she meet him in Bengaluru or else he would make her videos and pictures public.
A team led by Superintendent of Police Rahul Gupta travelled to Bengaluru with the victim and laid a trap.
"After extensive efforts and a long chase, the accused was apprehended when he arrived to meet the victim," the spokesperson said.
Police said the accused has confessed to his crime.
"The chats and videos of the victim recorded on the phone of the accused were recovered. The phone will be sent for a cyber forensic examination," he said.
The investigation suggested the accused created fake accounts using VPN phone numbers and posted fraudulent job offers targeting female victims.
"They (the arrested person and others) randomly contacted women, induced them to participate in online interviews with promises of high salary packages, and then recorded their objectionable images and videos. These recordings were subsequently used to blackmail the victims for sexual gratification," he said.
After the woman's complaint, the police on April 30 registered a case against unidentified persons.
Following the arrest, the accused was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 354 A (sexual harassment), 384 (extortion) and provisions of the Information Technology Act, the police said.
