With the Chandrayaan 2 entering the lunar orbit on Tuesday, India’s second mission to moon achieved the ‘biggest milestone’, second only to the 15 minutes of suspense the scientists will experience on September 7 when the lander-rover starts its decent to the moon.
‘This was an extremely critical point in the mission, I would say the biggest milestone only second to the lunar landing. The moon is a moving object and so is our spacecraft. To ensure lunar capture, several parameters such as the velocity and the inclination had to be precise,’ said an ISRO official, on condition of anonymity.
The lunar orbit insertion is one of the biggest challenges in the mission, second only to the moon landing to be attempted on September 7. After the lunar orbit insertion, there will be four more such manoeuvres to make the spacecraft enter into its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100km from Moon’s surface, Isro has said. The Bengaluru-headquartered space agency has said subsequently the Vikram lander will separate from the orbiter on September 2.
Two orbit manoeuvres will be performed on the lander before the initiation of powered descent to make a soft landing on the lunar surface on September 7, according to the agency said.
Chandrayaan 2 had entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory on August 14 after final orbit raising manoeuvre of the spacecraft was successfully carried out.
Chandrayaan 2 lifted off on July 22, onboard Isro’s most powerful launcher, the 640-tonne rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III), from the country’s only launch site Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
The mission carries 13 Indian scientific instruments for experiments. Imaging of rock will be done to find elements like magnesium, calcium and iron and also for signs of water. Mission will also study the exosphere of the moon.
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 the capital of Karnataka.
All systems onboard Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft are performing normal, Isro said on August 14. It said Chandrayaan 2 will shed light on a completely unexplored region of the Moon, its South Pole.
‘This mission will help us gain a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon by conducting detailed topographical studies, comprehensive mineralogical analyses, and a host of other experiments on the lunar surface,’ the space agency has said.
