Briefing the media after the successful Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) of spacecraft Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief Dr K Sivan on Tuesday said that India’s moon mission has crossed “a major milestone” today.
Chandrayaan-2 was successfully placed in the moon’s orbit on Tuesday in a nerve-wracking manoeuvre.
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) was completed successfully at 9.02 am as planned using the onboard propulsion system. All the systems of Chandrayaan-2 are healthy.
The precise lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre was carried out at 9 am for about 30 minutes and Chandrayaan-2 was precisely inserted in the defined orbit, Sivan told the media.
“The next major event will happen on September 2 when the lander will be separated from the orbiter. On September 3, we will have a small manoeuvre for about 3 seconds to ensure that the systems of the lander are running normally,” the ISRO chief said explaining the who process.
Lander Vikram will make a soft-land on the moon on 7th September at 1:55 am.
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 the Karnataka capital.
Chandrayaan-2, India’s second moon mission spacecraft, lifted off successfully onboard the “Bahubali” rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh on July 22.
Minutes after the launch, GSLVMkIII-M1 successfully injected the spacecraft into the earth’s orbit.
The rocket carrying Chandrayaan-2 was originally scheduled to lift off on July 15 early morning but was aborted after a “technical snag” was observed in it, nearly an hour before launch.
A week later, the ISRO announced that the “fault” had been rectified and that the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft will be launched on July 22.
The Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 mission is a prestigious one as it is aimed to make India the fourth nation in the world to land and ride on the moon after the US, Russia and China.
Chandrayaan-2 is a sequel to Chandrayaan-1, India’s maiden unmanned moon mission which was announced by late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the 56th Independence Day in 2003.