Since its launch on July 22, Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft had been in the orbit of the Earth. There were a series of orbit-raising, the spacecraft progressed five times on the orbit from July 23 to August 6 before it left the Earth’s orbit this week when the final orbit-raising was done. In fact, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had earlier this month released the first set of images of Earth captured by Chandrayaan-2.
The spacecraft will be needed to go through another four stages of the orbit manoeuvering to get into the last orbit. This process of manoeuvering in the lunar orbit will be taking place from August 21 to September 1.
Once the spacecraft reaches the final orbit of the Moon, it will be separating the Vikram lander from itself on September 2. The Vikram lander will then go through two more orbit manoeuvers before the initiation of powered descent to make the soft landing on the surface of the Moon on September 7.
The Vikram lander will be landing on the southern pole of the Moon which has so far been unexplored. According to the ISRO, the Moon’s surface in the south pole is in the shadows more than the surface in the north pole. After it successfully lands, the spacecraft will rollout the rover for exploring the surface of the Moon there.
Chandrayaan-2 successfully went through its second lunar orbit manoeuvre at 1250 hrs IST, using the onboard propulsion system, ISRO said. The duration of the manoeuvre was 1228 seconds.
The orbit achieved is 118 km x 4412 km. All spacecraft parameters are normal and the next lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled on August 28 between 0530 - 0630 hrs IST, the space agency said in a statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the team of ISRO for successful Lunar Orbit Insertion of Chandrayaan-2 Tuesday. Taking to Twitter, Modi said it was an "important step in the landmark journey to the Moon."
ISRO explains why countries across the world are investing their resources to reach the Moon's South Pole?
Watch: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief K Sivan explains the intricacies of the Chandrayaan2 mission using a miniature model
Expressing confidence about India's Chandrayaan-2 moon landing mission, ISRO Chief K Sivan said the "entire world is waiting for our data."
Next Lunar bound orbit manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-2 will take place tomorrow between 12.30 to 1.30 pm
Addressing the media on Chandrayaan-2 successful Lunar Orbit Insertion, ISRO chief said the South pole is expected to have more water, and minerals.
ISRO chief K Sivan said the Vikram lander will land on the Moon at 1.55 am on Sept 7. Responding to a question, Sivan said PM Modi has been extended an invitation to witness the landing at the ISRO headquarters.
Addressing the press on the successful Lunar Orbit Insertion of Chandrayaan-2, ISRO chief K Sivan said moments leading up to the insertion were "terrifying", adding that "our hearts stopped" in anticipation of the development.
ISRO Chief K Sivan: Next major event will happen on 2nd September when the lander will be separated from the orbiter. On 3rd September we will have a small maneuver for about 3 seconds to ensure that the systems of the lander are running normally.
ISRO Chief K Sivan: Chandrayaan-2 mission crossed a major milestone today, the precise lunar orbit insertion maneuver was carried out at 9 am for about 30 minutes and Chandrayaan 2 was precisely inserted in the defined orbit.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated ISRO on the successful Lunar Orbit Insertion today.
The Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI), Chandrayaan-2 is now in Lunar orbit. Next, Lander Vikram will soft land on Moon on September 7, 2019.
ISRO said all the systems on Chandrayaan-2 were functioning normally, as expected. "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. All the systems of Chandrayaan-2 are healthy," ISRO said.
With Chandrayaan 2, India joins the small select club of nations which have major space missions on their CV. It is much more important than even the nuclear capability. It shows that India is able to meet the high standards of space technology. It was the genius of Vikram Sarabhai which launched India on the fast track, which has brought us Chandrayaan.
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Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver was completed successfully today at 9 am as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of maneuver was 1738 seconds. With this, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit. The orbit achieved is 114 km x 18072 km, ISRO confirmed.
SO FAR, since its launch on July 22, Chandrayaan-2 had been orbiting the Earth, moving into higher and orbits. This is achieved by a series of “Earth-bound orbit-raising manoeuvres”. There were five such manoeuvres before the mission left Earth orbit on Wednesday. These raised the orbits around Earth successively to 230 × 45,163 km (July 24), 251 × 54,829 km (July 26), 276 × 71,792 km (July 29), 277 × 89,472 km (August 2) and 276 × 1,42,975 km (August 6). The two figures with each orbit refer to the distance at the nearest and farthest points.
Chandrayaan2, launched on July 22 by GSLV MkIII-M1 vehicle, had entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory on August 14 after final orbit raising manoeuvre of the spacecraft was successfully carried out.
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 Byalalu, near Bengaluru.
All systems on board Chandrayaan2 spacecraft are performing normal, ISRO said on August 14.
Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO will brief the media today at 11 am on the occasion of Lunar Orbit Insertion of Chandrayaan-2.
Chandrayaan-2 will enter the orbit of the Moon between 8.30 am and 9.30 am today. Track this space for real-time updates on the important development in India's lunar exploration mission.