Bengaluru: India’s lunar lander- orbiter craft ‘Chandrayaan-2’ was put in the path of moon, some 3.84 lakh km away, in the wee hours of Wednesday, ISRO said. Its orbit was raised for the sixth and last time on the earth side from ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru at 2.21 a.m. Post operation, the spacecraft is functioning normally, ISRO said.
“Today (August 14, 2019) after the Trans Lunar Insertion (TLI) maneuver operation, #Chandrayaan2 will depart from Earth’s orbit and move towards the Moon (sic),” the ISRO tweeted.
It will travel for the next seven days and get close to moon on August 20, when its orbit will be altered frequently to make it revolve around moon. The spacecraft carries lander Vikram and rover Pragyan on it. The mission is the country’s first lunar soft-landing attempt. The landing itself is slated for September 7.
The Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said it has carried out a manoeuvre called ‘Trans Lunar Insertion’ (TLI) following which the spacecraft has successfully entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory.
“During the final orbit raising of the spacecraft around the earth, the liquid engine was fired for about 1203 seconds. With this, Chandrayaan-2 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory,” the space agency said.
Earlier, the spacecraft’s orbit was progressively increased five times between July 23 and August 6.
The health of the spacecraft is being “continuously monitored” from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu, near Bengaluru, it said.
“Since its launch on July 22 all systems on board Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are performing normally,” the ISRO said. The spacecraft will approach the moon on August 20 and then the spacecraft’s liquid engine will be fired again to insert it into lunar orbit, the ISRO said.
If successful, the mission will make India the fourth country after Russia, the U.S. and China to pull off a soft landing on the Moon.
