Chandrayaan 2 successfully placed in moon's orbit

Lunar Orbit Insertion of Chandrayaan 2 maneuver was completed successfully today. Pic/ANI

Chandrayaan-2 on Tuesday was successfully placed in the moon's orbit, stated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver which took a little over 28 minutes was completed at 9:02 am. "Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver was completed successfully today (August 20, 2019) at 0902 hrs IST as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of maneuver was 1738 seconds. With this, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit. The orbit achieved is 114 km x 18072 km," ISRO said in a statement.

Also Read: ISRO to inject Chandrayaan-2 into lunar orbit on Tuesday

The space agency said that, following this, a series of orbit maneuvers will be performed on Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft to enable it to enter its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon's surface. "Subsequently, the lander will separate from the Orbiter and enters into a 100 km X 30 km orbit around the Moon. Then, it will perform a series of complex braking maneuvers to soft land in the South polar region of the Moon on September 7, 2019," added the statement.

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"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 Bengaluru," it said. According to the news agency, ANI, all the systems of Chandrayaan-2 are healthy and the space agency added that the next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled on August 21 between 1230-13:30 hrs IST.

The news report also stated that Chandrayaan-2 will explore a region of the moon where no mission has ever set foot. Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover together referred to as "composite body". Chandrayaan-2 will be the first Indian expedition to attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface and this mission will make India the fourth country after the Russia, US and China to carry out a soft landing on the moon.

With inputs from ANI

Also Read: Chandrayaan 2: The glorious journey so far

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