India’s first moon lander Vikram is all set to land on the moon on September 7 with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completing the second and final de-orbital operations successfully on Wednesday.
According to the Indian space agency, Vikram’s second de-orbital operations began at 3.42 am using the on-board propulsion system and was completed in nine seconds. The orbit of Vikram Lander is 35 km x 101 km.
With this operation the required orbit for the Vikram to commence its descent towards the surface of the Moon is achieved, ISRO said.
According to the Indian space agency, Vikram is scheduled to powered descent between 1 am to 2 am on September 7. The touchdown on the Moon’s south polar region will be between 1.30 am – 2.30 am, ISRO said.
After the touch down, the rover Pragyan will roll down to carry out the research for which it was designed. Pragyan will carry out experiments on the lunar surface for a period of one lunar day, which is equal to 14 earth days.
Meanwhile, Chandrayaan 2 Orbiter continue to go around the Moon in an orbit of 96 km x 125 km. “Both the Orbiter and the Lander are healthy,” ISRO said in a statement.
#ISRO
The second de-orbiting maneuver for #Chandrayaan spacecraft was performed successfully today (September 04, 2019) beginning at 0342 hrs IST.For details please see https://t.co/GiKDS6CmxE
— ISRO (@isro) September 3, 2019
On Monday afternoon, the lander got separated from its mother spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 which completed the first de-oprbiting manoeuvre
On July 22, Rs978 crore worth Chandrayaan-2 was launched into the space by India’s heavy lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV Mk III) in a text book style.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to be in the mission control center to witness this historic touch down of the Vikram lander near the South Pole of the moon along with some school children.