Chandrayaan-2, India’s second moon mission, has crossed a major landmark with the Isro successfully inserting the spacecraft precisely in its defined orbit. The spacecraft reached in defined lunar orbit at 09.02 am today, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Sivan said while addressing a press conference.
Speaking after the successful Lunar Orbit Insertion of Chandrayaan-2, Sivan said Isro is now looking at a successful landing of the rovar at 1.55 am on 7 September. The soft landing will be near lunar South Pole.
He said the next major event will be on 2 September when the lander will be separated from the orbiter. The chairman said that Isro is confident about its landing mission, adding that it has done enough stimulations of soft landing.
Chandrayyan-2 will undergo four more manoeuvres. The first manoeuvre will be tomorrow, followed by subsequent manoeuvres on 28 August, 30 August and 1 September.
This is Isro’s second moon mission after Chandrayaan-1 in the year 2008. Chandrayaan-2 was launched from Sriharikota on 22 July this year. It carries an orbiter, ‘Vikram’ lander and ‘Pragyan’ rover.