Chandrayaan-2 is now finally in the Moon's orbit, well on course for a soft-landing next month. The critical Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre was completed successfully at 9.02 am on Tuesday.
The LOI was achieved using the spacecraft's onboard propulsion system. The duration of manoeuvre was 1,738 seconds (about 29 minutes).
With this, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit. The orbit achieved is 114 km x 18,072 km, said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
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.
Subsequently, the lander will separate from the Orbiter and enter into a 100 km X 30 km orbit around the Moon. Thereafter, it is scheduled to perform a series of complex braking manoeuvres to soft-land in the South polar region of the Moon on September 7, 2019.
ISRO maintained that 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. All the systems of Chandrayaan-2 are healthy.
The next Lunar bound orbit manoeuvre is scheduled on Wednesday between 12.30 pm and 1.30 pm