A day after lander 'Vikram' was separated from Chandrayaan-2's orbiter, the ISRO said on Tuesday it has successfully performed the first de-orbiting manoeuvre for the spacecraft.
The city-headquartered space agency will perform one more de-orbit manoeuvre on Wednesday, before the powered descent on September 7 for its landing in the south polar region of the moon.
"The first de-orbiting manoeuvre for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully today (September 03, 2019) beginning at 0850 hrs IST as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of the manoeuvre was 4 seconds," the ISRO said in an update.
"The orbit of Vikram Lander is 104 km x 128 km. Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon in the existing orbit and both the Orbiter and Lander are healthy," it said, adding that the next de-orbiting manoeuvre is scheduled on September 4, between 03:30 and 04:30 hrs IST.
In a key event of India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2, lander 'Vikram' was separated from the orbiter on Monday.
Vikram (with rover 'Pragyan' housed inside) is expected to touch down on the surface of the moon on September 7, between 1:30 and 2:30 am.
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Two de-orbit manoeuvres of Vikram Lander, to bring it further down, have been planned to prepare for its landing in the south polar region of the moon.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan has said the proposed soft-landing on the Moon is going to be a "terrifying" moment as it is something ISRO has not done before, where as LOI manoeuvre was successfully carried out during the Chandrayaan-1 mission.
Following the landing, the rover 'Pragyan' will roll out from lander 'Vikram' between 5:30 and 6:30 am on September 7, and carry out experiments on the lunar surface for a period of one lunar day, which is equal to 14 earth days.
The mission life of the lander is also one lunar day, while the orbiter will continue its mission for a year.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV MkIII-M1 had successfully launched the 3,840-kg Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft into the earth's orbit on July 22.
Chandrayaan-2 satellite had began its journey towards the moon leaving the earth's orbit in the dark hours on August 14, after a crucial manoeuvre called Trans Lunar Insertion (TLI) that was carried out by ISRO to place the spacecraft on "Lunar Transfer Trajectory."