Bengaluru: The second moon mission of India, the Chandrayaan-2 has been precisely inserted in defined orbit. It reached in defined lunar orbit at 09.02 am today. This was stated by the Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Dr. K. Sivan, while addressing a press conference after the Lunar Orbit Insertion of Chandrayaan-2, in Bengaluru, today. With this, Chandrayaan-2 has crossed a major landmark, he said.
Dr Sivan said that ISRO aims for a successful landing at 1.55 am on 7th September. The soft landing will be near lunar South Pole. He said that the next major event will be on 2nd September when the lander will be separated from the orbiter. The Chairman said that ISRO is confident about its landing mission. ISRO has done enough stimulations of soft landing, he added. Chandrayyan-2 will undergo four more manoeuvres. The first manoeuvre will be tomorrow, followed by subsequent manoeuvres on 28th August, 30th August and 1st September.
Notably, it was on July 22 when the Chandrayaan-2 was launched and now it and finally entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory on August 14 after final orbit raising maneuvers of the spacecraft was successfully carried out. Meanwhile, the spacecraft is continuously monitored from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru. In doing this, ISRO has also taken support from the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu, near Bengaluru.
ISRO states that the mission will help it in gaining a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon for which it will conduct detailed topographical studies, comprehensive mineralogical analyses, and a host of other experiments on the lunar surface.
It further adds that the agency will also explore the discoveries made by Chandrayaan-1. The former spacecraft had discovered the presence of water molecules on the Moon and new rock types with unique chemical composition.
This is ISRO’s second moon mission after Chandrayaan-1 in the year 2008.