Chandrayaan 2 Leaves Earth's Orbit – Soft Landing On Moon Likely

After revolving around the planet for almost 23 days, Chandrayaan 2 has left the Earth's orbit early on Wednesday. It is now headed towards the Moon after the crucial maneuver around the Earth. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) believes that the ambitious lunar mission will reach the Moon's orbit by August 20.

The final orbit raising maneuver was performed at 2:21 AM and the scientists fired a liquid engine of the spacecraft for 1203 seconds and put it in the Lunar Transfer trajectory that could cause it to arrive at the Moon.

The premier space agency has been continuously monitoring the health of the module from the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru alongside Indian Deep Space Network antennas. The agency has also confirmed that the systems onboard the spacecraft are functioning normally.

While the maneuver took place earlier on Wednesday, August 14, the other maneuver will be carried out on August 20 as the spacecraft approaches the Moon. Its liquid engine will be fired again to insert it into the lunar orbit. The plan is to place the module in an orbit passing over the lunar poles at 100 kms from the Moon's surface. To complete the purpose, four more orbit maneuvers have to be performed.

Chandrayaan 2 - Most Challenging Mission

Chandrayaan 2 is India's most challenging mission to date. It was launched on July 22 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota using the powerful GSLV-Mk-111 M-1. It carries the Lander Vikram and Rover Pragyaan orbiter. The orbiter will revolve around the Moon for a year while the orbiter has 14 days of lifespan after operating on the lunar surface.

If everything happens as intended, Vikram Lander would be separated from the orbiter on September 2 as ISRO will bring to power the descent to make a soft landing on the lunar surface scheduled for September 7. Notably, this would be the first time for Indian scientists to attempt a soft landing on the Moon, which is a feat achieved only by US, Russia, and China as of now.