Chandrayaan 2 successfully placed in Moon's orbit by ISRO in crucial manoeuvre

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday successfully placed Chandrayaan 2 in the lunar orbit in a significant milestone for India's Moon mission. There will be further four orbit manoeuvres after this to make the spacecraft enter into its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from Moon's surface, ISRO has said. According to ISRO, the Vikram lander will separate from the orbiter on September 2.

"Following this, a series of orbit manoeuvres 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," ISRO said in a post on its website today.

"Subsequently, the lander will separate from the orbiter and enter into a 100 km x 30 km orbit around the moon. Then, it will perform a series of complex braking manoeuvres to soft land in the south polar region of the moon on September 7, 2019," ISRO said.

#ISRO
Today (August 20, 2019) after the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI), #Chandrayaan2 is now in Lunar orbit. Lander Vikram will soft land on Moon on September 7, 2019 pic.twitter.com/6mS84pP6RD

— ISRO (@isro) August 20, 2019

Chandrayaan-2, launched on July 22 by GSLV MkIII-M1 vehicle, had entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory on August 14 after final orbit raising manoeuvre of the spacecraft was successfully carried out.

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 Bengaluru.

All systems on board Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are performing normal, ISRO said on August 14. According to ISRO, Chandrayaan-2 India's second lunar expedition will shed light on a completely unexplored region of the Moon, its South Pole.