Bengaluru: ISRO announced Wednesday morning that Chandrayaan-2 has successfully performed its Trans Lunar Insertion (TLI) — the process of placing the spacecraft on the path to the moon after leaving the Earth’s orbit.
The craft has set sail for the moon after successfully completing all Earth-bound orbit raising maneuvers since its launch on 22 July, 2019.
Chandrayaan-2 was initially scheduled to launch on 15 July, but was called off due to a technical snag in its launch vehicle system. The spacecraft consists of three vehicles — Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, a lander named Vikram (named after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India’s space programme), and the rover called Pragyan.
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Trans Lunar Insertion (TLI) maneuver was performed today (August 14, 2019) at 0221 hrs IST as planned.
For details please see https://t.co/3TUN7onz6z
Here's the view of Control Centre at ISTRAC, Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/dp5oNZiLoL
— ISRO (@isro) August 13, 2019
Described as ISRO’s most complex mission so far, Chandrayaan-2 is expected to land an orbiter on the lunar surface. It is expected to investigate the previous lunar probe’s startling discovery of water in the moon’s South Pole region and contribute to lunar seismology.
Moon in sight
Since it’s launch, Chandrayaan-2 has performed orbit-raising maneuvers five times between 23 July and 6 August. The TLI was performed Wednesday at 0221 hours IST, when the spacecraft’s engines fired for 1203 seconds, after which Chandrayaan-2 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory.
All systems on the spacecraft are being continuously monitored from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC). Also providing support are the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu, near Bengaluru.
ISRO also mentioned post launch that all systems onboard Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are performing normally.
Upcoming schedule
Chandrayaan-2 is expected to approach the moon’s orbit on 20 August. Here, the liquid engine will be fired again to ensure that after reorientation, the spacecraft can slow down and insert itself into an orbit around the Moon.
Four further orbit lowering manouvers have been planned on 21, 28, 30 August and 1st September.
The lander Vikram will separate from the orbiter on 2 September and perform two orbit lowering maneuvers before attempting to descent on the lunar surface on 7 September.
The lander and rover will function for 14 Earth-days on the moon while the orbiter is expected to function for at least a year.
ISRO has also announced a quiz for schoolchildren from Classes 8 to 10. Two winners from each state will be invited to watch the landing live at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru along with several scientists and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Also read: In Pictures: ISRO releases images of Earth taken by Chandrayaan 2