Chandrayaan 2 moon expedition Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver was completed successfully today (August 20, 2019).
The duration of maneuver was one thousand seven-hundred and thirty-eight (1,738) seconds beginning from nine hundred two (0902) hours Indian Standard Time (IST). With this, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into the Lunar orbit. The orbit achieved is one-hundred fourteen (114 km) x eighteen thousand seventy-two (18,072) kilometers.
According to a press briefing held by Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a series of orbit maneuvers enabled the spacecraft to enter its final orbit, passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon’s surface.
It has taken thirty days to traverse space before the insertion maneuver. The next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled tomorrow (August 21, 2019) between twelve-thirty and thirteen-thirty (12:30-13:30) hours Indian Standard Time (IST).
This project is tricky because of various uncertainties. For instance, if Chandrayaan 2 arrives at a considerable rate, it will rally back and disappear in inner space.
Conversely, if it sets in at an unhurried rate, a gravity pullback from the Moon will be witnessed and there is a likelihood it will suffer a surface accident.
Chandrayaan 2’s success dependent on velocity
Dr. K. Sivan had announced after the fateful LOI:
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 Bylalu, near Bengaluru. All the systems of Chandrayaan-2 are healthy.
The rate evidently was precise but tricky as a slight mistake could tarnish the mission. Moreover, Chandrayaan 2’s altitude above the moon turned to be right as this is a crucial determinant of the velocity’s intensity.
All the anxieties that the spacecraft will be slowed down seems unfounded as it had the correct velocity to propel its capture by the moon.
Chandrayaan 2’s arrival complicated
The setting in the process has been deemed complicated because it took off with a velocity of over thirty-nine thousand kilometers (39,240km) per hour. This rate is nearly thirty times the sound’s speed in air.
The ISRO head, Dr K Sivan, attests that even a slight error can terminate Chandrayaan 2 mission. The concerned raised are founded on the high velocity currently depicted by the spacecraft.
The successful mission is unique based on its low cost, and due to its feat, the expedition makes India the fourth nation to launch a rover after China, US, and Russia. Israel failed in a similar mission at the beginning of 2019.
Chandrayaan 2 is an expedition that follows Chandrayaan 1 that was successfully launched in 2009. The first expedition ascertained the presence of hydroxyl or water on the moon.
