Chennai: India’s second moon spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 put into earth orbit July 22, is scheduled to reach the Moon by August 20, the Indian space agency said Wednesday.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the first-earth bound orbit raising manoeuvre for Chandryaan-2 was successfully performed Wednesday afternoon by firing the onboard motors for 57 seconds. The new orbit is 230×45,163 km. The second orbit raising manoeuvre is scheduled July 26, at 1.09 am, it added.
The Chandrayaan-2 was injected into an elliptical orbit of 170×45,475 km July 22 by India’s heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV Mk III) in a textbook style. Chandrayaan-2 comprises three segments — the Orbiter (weighing 2,379 kg, eight payloads), the lander ‘Vikram’ (1,471 kg, four payloads) and rover ‘Pragyan’ (27 kg, two payloads).
The Indian space agency said the major activities include earth bound manoeuvres, the trans-lunar insertion, lunar-bound manoeuvres, the lander’s separation from Chandrayaan-2 and its touchdown on the moon’s South Pole.
The ISRO said the trans-lunar insertion of Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled August 14, which will send the spacecraft to moon, which it will reach by August 20. The lander Vikram will land on the moon September 7.
Originally the GSLV-Mk III rocket carrying Chandrayaan-2 was supposed to fly July 15. Owing to a serious technical glitch, the flight was postponed to July 22. As a result, there are changes in the mission schedule. As per the July 15 flight schedule, Chandrayaan-2’s earth bound phase was 17 days and it is 23 days as per the new schedule.
On the other hand, the lunar-bound phase which was for 28 days for July 15 flight schedule, has come down to 13 days. Originally Vikram was planned to land on the moon 54 days after the rocket’s lift off and now the landing will take place in 48 days.