Heena Sharma Blog

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said that it was yet to establish any communication with Chandrayaan-2 's lander, Vikram. On September 7, minutes before landing, Vikram, which was carrying a rover, Pragyan, went out of contact during its final descent, when it was just 2.1 km above the lunar surface. "Vikram Lander has been located by the orbiter of Chandrayaan 2, but no communication with it yet. All possible efforts are being made to establish communication with lander," said Isro. While reports claim that the Vikram lander lies on the lunar surface as a single piece, unbroken, and it is in a tilted position following a hard landing, Isro officials did not confirm, stating that they were trying to establish communication with the lander. Chandrayaan-2 comprises an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan). The mission life of the lander and rover is one lunar day, which is equal to 14 Earth days. Isro Chairman K Sivan earlier said that the...

In a significant milestone for India's Moon mission , ISRO will fire Chandrayaan 2 's liquid engine on Tuesday to insert the spacecraft into a lunar orbit. "It's tomorrow morning (tentatively between 8.30 am and 9.30 am). It's challenging," Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Sivan told PTI on Monday on the operation to put the spacecraft in an orbit around the Moon. Following this, there will be further four orbit manoeuvres to make the spacecraft enter into its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from Moon's surface, ISRO has said. Subsequently, the Vikram lander will separate from the orbiter on September 2, according to the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency. Two orbit manoeuvres will be performed on the lander before the initiation of powered descent to make a soft landing on the lunar surface on September 7, ISRO said. Chandrayaan 2, launched on July 22 by GSLV MkIII-M1 vehicle, had ent...

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Wednesday successfully conducted final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft. It was carried out at 02:21 am IST. With this, Chandrayaan-2 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory. During this maneuver, the spacecraft's liquid engine was fired for about 1203 seconds. Earlier, the spacecraft's orbit was progressively increased five times during July 23 to August 6, 2019. 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 Byalalu, near Bengaluru. Since its launch on July 22, 2019 by GSLV MkIII-M1 vehicle, all systems onboard Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are performing normal, said Isro officials. Chandrayaan-2 will approach Moon on August 20, 2019 and the spacecraft's liquid engine will be fired again to insert the spacecra...

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully conducted the second Earth-bound orbit raising maneuver for the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft. Isro officials said that second maneuver has been performed successfully on Friday at 0108 hours (IST) as planned, using the onboard propulsion system for a firing duration of 883 seconds. The orbit achieved was 251 x 54829 km. All spacecraft parameters were normal. The third orbit raising maneuver is scheduled on July 29, 2019, between 1430–1530 hours (IST). India's second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, is expected to reach the Moon on August 20, 2019. The first earth-bound orbit raising maneuver for Chandrayaan-2 was performed successfully on July 24, 2019, at 1452 hours (IST) as planned. Between July 26 and August 8, four Earth-bound maneuvers have been planned, culminating in Trans Lunar Insertion on August 14, which will send Chandrayaan-2 to the Moon. On July 22, at 2.43 pm, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch ...

Notwithstanding the one-week delay in lift-off, the Chandrayaan-2 mission would likely see the lander and rover modules of the spacecraft making a soft-landing on the lunar surface on the previously fixed date of September 7. Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) have reworked the Chandrayaan-2 schedule so that it could land on the moon’s south pole as scheduled earlier. For this, Isro would be adjusting the travel time by tweaking the earth-bound and the lunar-bound phases, according to officials. According to the new timeline, the earth-bound phase has increased by six days to 23 days; earlier it was 17 days. The time for Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) would now be only 13 days (it was previously 28 days). Thus, the space agency has reduced the journey time by nine days; it had lost seven days due to postponing of the launch, which was earlier scheduled on July 15, said experts. K Sivan, chairman of Isro, told Business Standard that the space agency h...