Chandrayaan-1 put into lunar orbit

India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft - Chandrayaan-1 - entered the lunar space early...

India8217;s first unmanned lunar spacecraft 8212; Chandrayaan-1 8212; entered the lunar space early on Tuesday after a successful fifth and final orbit raising manoeuvre and is likely to start circling the Moon by Saturday. The satellite is now orbiting at a maximum altitude of 380,000 km from earth.

Exactly two weeks after it was launched from Sriharikota, the spacecraft was in the last lap of its journey into the moon8217;s orbit after it was injected into the lunar transfer trajectory by space scientists in a critical operation described by ISRO as one of the 8220;crucial and important milestones8221; in the Chandrayaan-1 mission.

8220;It Chandrayaan-1 is being tracked by Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network ISTRAC in Bangalore. Today we have done the last orbit-raising manoeuvre to enter the lunar transfer trajectory. If everything goes right, by November 8, Chandrayaan-1 will start circling the Moon,8221; ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters in Ahmedabad on the sidelines of a function.

Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar transfer trajectory with an apogee farthest point from earth of about 380,000 km, the space agency said in a statement. 8220;On Saturday evening, the lunar orbit insertion manoeuvres are planned to be carried out and the Chandrayaan will be captured in Moon8217;s orbit,8221; ISRO spokesperson S Satish said in Bangalore.

During the crucial manoeuvre on Tuesday at 4.56 am, the spacecraft8217;s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for 145 seconds. Since its launch on October 22 by PSLV-C11, all systems onboard Chandrayaan-I spacecraft were performing normally, Nair said.

The ISRO statement said Chandrayaan-1 would approach the Moon on November 8 and the spacecraft8217;s liquid engine would be fired again to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit.

It said the health of the spacecraft was being continuously monitored from the ISTRAC with support from Indian Deep Space Network IDSN antennas at Byalalu on the outskirts of Bangalore.

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Once the spacecraft is in the lunar orbit, it will stabilise in about a week8217;s after which it will send a probe instrument to the moon8217;s surface.

Chandrayaan-1 carries 11 payloads 8212; five from India and others from abroad. During a two-year orbital mission, it will provide a detailed map of the mineral, chemical and topographical characteristics of the lunar surface.