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A major milestone in India&rsquos moon mission, Chandrayaan 2 successfully entered the Lunar Orbit on Tuesday morning.
According to ISRO&rsquos website, &ldquoLunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver was completed successfully today (August 20, 2019). The duration of maneuver was 1738 seconds beginning from 0902 hrs IST. With this, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit. The orbit achieved is 114 km x 18072 km.&rdquo
&ldquoFollowing this, a series of orbit maneuvers will be performed on Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft to enable it to enter its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon&rsquos surface,&rdquo ISRO said.
Chandryaan-2 comprises an Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyaan). Subsequently, the lander will separate from the Orbiter and enter into a 100 km X 30 km orbit around the Moon. Then, it will perform a series of complex braking maneuvers to soft land in the South Polar Region of the Moon on September 7, 2019.
&ldquoThe mission life of Orbiter will be one year whereas the mission life of lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan) will be one Lunar day which is equal to fourteen earth days,&rdquo as reported by PTI.
&ldquoThe 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,&rdquo said ISRO.
Chandrayaan 2 was launched on July 22, 2019 in an attempt to &lsquofoster a new age of discovery, increase our understanding of space, stimulate the advancement of technology, promote global alliances, and inspire a future generation of explorers and scientists.&rsquo
According to ISRO, &lsquoChandrayaan-2 will attempt to soft land the lander -Vikram and rover- Pragyan in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, at a latitude of about 70° south.&rsquo If Chandrayaan 2 is successful with the soft landing, India will be the 4th country after USA, Russia and China to undertake such a project. However, the budget for the mission is only Rs. 1000 crores, much lower than what the other countries have spent.
