Chandrayaan 2 lander separates from orbiter
New Delhi: In a big day for
India’s second mission to moon, the lander-rover on board Chandrayaan-2 separated
from the composite module on Monday 2nd September 2019 afternoon.
Now, the lander and the orbiter will be controlled separately.
“The Vikram Lander
successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter at 1315 hrs IST today. All
systems of the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter and lander are healthy,” said a statement
from the Indian Space Research Organisation.
The lander and the orbiter
are being 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.
The scientists from ISRO
will perform the first of the two deboosting manoeuvres tomorrow between 09:00
and 10:00 am. Both the manoeuvres together will bring the lander-rover to down
to a 36x 100 km orbit.
Today’s
separation is crucial as this will be the first time that the systems on-board
the indigenously developed lander will
operate on its own.
“Till the landing is
complete, it will be terrifying. Till now, we have not operated the systems
on-board the lander, especially the propulsion system. This is the phase,
including the powered descent, that we will be doing for the first time. That
is why it is critical,” ISRO chairperson K Sivan had said after the spacecraft
entered the lunar orbit.
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