App maker by day, space sleuth by night: How Chennai techie Shanmuga Subramanian found Vikram
NASA HELPED NOT B ISRO BUT AN AMATUER
Shanmuga Subramanian, a 33-year-old techie working in Chennai, was instrumental in helping Nasa locate debris from the Chandrayaan-2 lander's crash on the lunar surface.
Shalini Lobo Chennai
On December 3, Shanmuga Subramanian's discovery would be revealed to the world by Nasa: the tiny dot was, in fact, a piece of Vikram, the Chandrayaan-2 mission's lander.
Vikram crashed in early September, having gone incommunicado during the final stages of a mission that had been poised to make India only the fourth nation in history to land on the moon.
In an e-mail and a TV interview, the young techie explained how he came to be involved in the hunt for Vikram.
It all began, he said, with this simple thought: "It was something challenging as even Nasa can't find out [where the lander was] so why can't we try [it] out?"
He would spend hours -- "four to six" -- every night, scouring a Nasa image of the lunar surface for debris. In early October he was convinced he had found the right spot; he had compared the current photo with previous images from a nine-year period. After that, "I was just waiting for the confirmation from Nasa."
Photo: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
Shanmuga Subramanian feels more efforts need to be made to explore the Moon, not least because he feels it could serve as a base for Martian adventures. But that's not all.
"We don't know about the surface of the South Pole. We don't know where are the locations that have got water...," he told India Today TV.
Twitter is now abuzz with news of Shanmuga Subramanian's extraordinary find, but he humbly attributes the discovery to Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LRO) team.
"Without LRO's data," he said, "this wouldn't have been possible".
See more pictures of the Chandrayaan-2 mission on IndiaContent.in.
ALSO READ | Isro targets 13 space missions before March 2020
WATCH | Meet the Chennai techie who helped Nasa locate Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander
A software engineer from Chennai with no formal training and no sophisticated equipment has been able to do what scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and US space agency Nasa had been trying to do for months.
India Today Web Desk
On December 3, in a statement describing new images of the debris, Nasa credited him with the first positive identification of debris, and mark his finding on a map. (See spot marked "S" on the photo below).
"It took me two to three days to just zero-in on the area of landing. Because images produced by LRO were so vast, it was impossible to do a pixel by pixel scan," Shanmuga Subramanian told India Today TV's Rajdeep Sardesai. he said that he could bring down his search are to a two by two square kilometre area with the help of online forums about Isro.
Elated by validation of his find by Nasa, Shanmuga Subramanian, who is an app developer and mechanical engineer by profession, says when it comes to passion, a degree does not matter.
"Learning is a continuous process, we should not stop learning at any point in time. and even if you don't hold any degrees, it does not matter. Ultimately it is all about what we have done so far in our life. I would say that amateurs should start looking at space as an option," he said.
Shanmuga Subramanian said that what he has done was a small part of space exploration being undertaken by amateurs like him. "There are several others who do a lot more like spotting satellite debris. There are a lot of things to be done in space. I would ask them [space enthusiasts] to try it out and do whatever they can do about it."
Read | Chandrayaan-2: What before and after photos of Vikram crash site reveal
Watch | Took me 2-3 days to zero in on crash site: Chennai techie who found Vikram lander debris
NASA HELPED NOT B ISRO BUT AN AMATUER
Shanmuga Subramanian, a 33-year-old techie working in Chennai, was instrumental in helping Nasa locate debris from the Chandrayaan-2 lander's crash on the lunar surface.
Shalini Lobo Chennai
December 3, 2019
The debris found by Shanmuga Subramanian, left, is marked "S"
The debris found by Shanmuga Subramanian, left, is marked "S"
in the map. (IMAGES:
Twitter/@Ramanean and NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)
HIGHLIGHTSShanmuga Subramanian used Nasa image to find Vikram debrisSpent hours every night scouring lunar surfaceNasa has acknowledged his contribution in a statement
He combed through the photo night after night, enduring many false eureka moments -- oh, those pesky boulders -- before he found what was looking for: a small white dot.
On December 3, Shanmuga Subramanian's discovery would be revealed to the world by Nasa: the tiny dot was, in fact, a piece of Vikram, the Chandrayaan-2 mission's lander.
Vikram crashed in early September, having gone incommunicado during the final stages of a mission that had been poised to make India only the fourth nation in history to land on the moon.
Shanmuga Subramanian, 33, is an app developer and mechanical engineer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. He works in Chennai for an IT firm. Rockets and space tech have always interested him: when he was in college, he watched a sounding rocket launch during a visit to Isro in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.Big news this morning: 87 days later, @NASA locates India’s #VikramLander https://t.co/xmV8hw4se7 pic.twitter.com/RHzJ7SgrQwShiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) December 3, 2019
In an e-mail and a TV interview, the young techie explained how he came to be involved in the hunt for Vikram.
It all began, he said, with this simple thought: "It was something challenging as even Nasa can't find out [where the lander was] so why can't we try [it] out?"
He would spend hours -- "four to six" -- every night, scouring a Nasa image of the lunar surface for debris. In early October he was convinced he had found the right spot; he had compared the current photo with previous images from a nine-year period. After that, "I was just waiting for the confirmation from Nasa."
He would get more than that. On December 3, in a statement describing new images of the debris, Nasa credited him with the first positive identification of debris, and mark his finding on a map. (See spot marked "S" on photo below).Is this Vikram lander? (1 km from the landing spot) Lander might have been buried in Lunar sand? @LRO_NASA @NASA @isro #Chandrayaan2 #vikramlanderfound #VikramLander pic.twitter.com/FTj9G6au9xShan (@Ramanean) October 3, 2019
Photo: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
Shanmuga Subramanian feels more efforts need to be made to explore the Moon, not least because he feels it could serve as a base for Martian adventures. But that's not all.
"We don't know about the surface of the South Pole. We don't know where are the locations that have got water...," he told India Today TV.
Twitter is now abuzz with news of Shanmuga Subramanian's extraordinary find, but he humbly attributes the discovery to Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LRO) team.
"Without LRO's data," he said, "this wouldn't have been possible".
See more pictures of the Chandrayaan-2 mission on IndiaContent.in.
ALSO READ | Isro targets 13 space missions before March 2020
WATCH | Meet the Chennai techie who helped Nasa locate Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander
Degree does not matter, says Chennai techie who helped Nasa find Vikram lander debrisElated by validation of his find by Nasa, Shanmuga Subramanian says when it comes to passion, the degree does not matter.
India Today Web Desk
New Delhi December 3, 2019 UPDATED: December 4, 2019
Shanmuga Subramanian -
Shanmuga Subramanian -
Chennai techie who helped Nasa find Vikram lander debris (PTI)
A software engineer from Chennai with no formal training and no sophisticated equipment has been able to do what scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and US space agency Nasa had been trying to do for months. Amateur space scientist Shanmuga Subramanian has found the debris of Vikram lander - India's moon rover and part of the Chandrayan-2 mission.
The rover had gone incommunicado on September 7, during the final stages of a mission that had been poised to make India only the fourth nation in history to land on the moon.
Shanmuga Subramanian, 33, says he scoured the images clicked by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LRO) for four to six hours for several nights before he spotted a tiny white dot. He had spotted the Vikram lander's debris in early October and had been waiting for Nasa's response on his find.
A software engineer from Chennai with no formal training and no sophisticated equipment has been able to do what scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and US space agency Nasa had been trying to do for months. Amateur space scientist Shanmuga Subramanian has found the debris of Vikram lander - India's moon rover and part of the Chandrayan-2 mission.
The rover had gone incommunicado on September 7, during the final stages of a mission that had been poised to make India only the fourth nation in history to land on the moon.
Shanmuga Subramanian, 33, says he scoured the images clicked by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LRO) for four to six hours for several nights before he spotted a tiny white dot. He had spotted the Vikram lander's debris in early October and had been waiting for Nasa's response on his find.
On December 3, in a statement describing new images of the debris, Nasa credited him with the first positive identification of debris, and mark his finding on a map. (See spot marked "S" on the photo below).
"It took me two to three days to just zero-in on the area of landing. Because images produced by LRO were so vast, it was impossible to do a pixel by pixel scan," Shanmuga Subramanian told India Today TV's Rajdeep Sardesai. he said that he could bring down his search are to a two by two square kilometre area with the help of online forums about Isro.
Elated by validation of his find by Nasa, Shanmuga Subramanian, who is an app developer and mechanical engineer by profession, says when it comes to passion, a degree does not matter.
"Learning is a continuous process, we should not stop learning at any point in time. and even if you don't hold any degrees, it does not matter. Ultimately it is all about what we have done so far in our life. I would say that amateurs should start looking at space as an option," he said.
Shanmuga Subramanian said that what he has done was a small part of space exploration being undertaken by amateurs like him. "There are several others who do a lot more like spotting satellite debris. There are a lot of things to be done in space. I would ask them [space enthusiasts] to try it out and do whatever they can do about it."
Read | Chandrayaan-2: What before and after photos of Vikram crash site reveal
Watch | Took me 2-3 days to zero in on crash site: Chennai techie who found Vikram lander debris
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