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India’s historic Moon journey

The final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was successfully carried out yesterday at 02:21 am IST. During this manoeuver, the spacecraft’s liquid engine was fired for about 1,203 seconds. With this, Chandrayaan-2 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory. Earlier, the spacecraft’s orbit was progressively increased five times during July 23 to August 06, 2019.

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. Since its launch on July 22, 2019 by GSLV MkIII-M1 vehicle, all systems onboard Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are performing normal. Chandrayaan-2 will approach Moon on August 20, 2019 and the spacecraft’s liquid engine will be fired again to insert the spacecraft into a lunar orbit. 

Following this, there will be further four orbit manoeuvers to make the spacecraft enter into its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon’s surface. The main scientific objective is to map the location and abundance of lunar water. A successful landing would make India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the space agencies of the USSR, the USA and China.

The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-2 are to demonstrate the ability to soft-land on the lunar surface and operate a robotic rover on the surface. Scientific goals include studies of lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice. The orbiter will map the lunar surface and help to prepare 3D maps of it. T

he onboard radar will also map the surface while studying the water ice in the south polar region and thickness of the lunar regolith on the surface. Referring to the launch, India’s second mission to the Moon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier said that the launch of the Chandrayaan-2 will be etched in the annals of India’s glorious history.

In a series of tweets, PM Narendra Modi said: “Special moments that will be etched in the annals of our glorious history. The launch of Chandrayaan-2 illustrates the prowess of our scientists and the determination of 130 crore Indians to scale new frontiers of science. Every Indian is immensely proud today,” PM Modi tweeted.

Referring to the indigenous systems used in Chandrayaan-2, he said the mission is “Indian at heart, Indian in spirit!” PM Modi said: “Indian at heart, Indian in spirit! What would make every Indian overjoyed is the fact that #Chandrayaan2 is a fully indigenous mission. It will have an Orbiter for remote sensing the Moon and also a Lander-Rover module for analysis of lunar surface.”