Now just one step to touch the moon! #Chandrayaan2 successfully enters lunar orbit

Bangalore, Aug. 19: After successful departure from earth, revolution around earth and successful heading towards moon, India’s Chandrayan 2 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit today. Very soon it will be all set to land on the Moon after few revolutions.

 

Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver was completed successfully today. The duration of maneuver was 1738 seconds beginning from 09:02 hrs IST. With this, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit. 

The orbit achieved is 114 km x 18072 km. Following this, a series of orbit maneuvers will be performed on Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft to enable it to enter its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon’s surface.

 

Subsequently, the lander will separate from the Orbiter and enters into a 100 km X 30 km orbit around the Moon. Then, it will perform a series of complex braking maneuvers to soft land in the South polar region of the Moon on September 7, 2019.

The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Bylalu, near Bengaluru. ISRO has assured that all the systems of Chandrayaan-2 are healthy.

 

The next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled tomorrow (August 21) between 12.30-13:30 hrs IST.

"On September 7 early morning at 1.55 am, lander Vikram will land near the South Pole of the moon at a site 71 degrees south to the moon’s equator. Two hours later after landing, the ramp in the lander will touch the ground. Three hours and 10 minutes later, the solar panel of the rover will be deployed and after five minutes, the lander will start moving and eventually it will touch the moon’s surface," said ISRO Chairman Dr. K. Sivan in a media briefing today.