SCIENCE DESK
The third orbit raising manoeuvre for India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 has been carried out successfully today.
A release from the national space agency ISRO says the operation began this afternoon at 3.12 pm.
The manoeuvre has been performed by burning the propulsion fuel onboard the spacecraft for 16 minutes and 48 seconds.
After the manoeuvre, Chandrayaan-2 has reached a new elliptical orbit around the earth at 276 kilometres at the nearest point and 71792 km at the farthest point from the earth.
The scientists have said all spacecraft parameters remain normal. The fourth such operation is scheduled to be held on the 2nd of August.
On 14th August, it is planned to nudge the spacecraft away from its earth-centric orbit so that it could begin its travel on a trans-lunar trajectory.
It will reach an orbit around the moon on the 20th August and soft-land on the moon on 7th September.
Chandrayaan-2 will require a total of fifteen manoeuvres, including five during its earth-centric phase that is prevailing now.