Moon lander breaks away successfully

The lander and the orbiter continue to move in the same orbit of 119 km x 127 km at the moment.

The Vikram lander of Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 on Monday successfully separated from its orbiter as India’s moon mission completed another crucial step in his bid to land on the lunar surface in the early hours of September 7.

The orbiter and the rover-lander will be controlled separately, making it the first time that the system on-board the indigenously developed lander will operate on its own. (HT FILE)

The lander and the orbiter continue to move in the same orbit of 119 km x 127 km at the moment. But now the orbiter and the rover-lander will be controlled separately, making it the first time that the system on-board the indigenously developed lander will operate on its own.

“The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter at 1315hrs IST today. All systems of the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and lander are healthy,” said a statement from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

“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 said after the spacecraft entered the lunar orbit. 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 Isro scientists will perform the first of the two de-boosting manoeuvres tomorrow between 9am and 10am to bring down the lander-rover to a 36kmx100 km orbit around the moon. The Chandrayaan-2 mission comes 11 years after India’s previous moon mission, and one of the major reasons for the delay was that Russia, which was supposed to make the lander for the mission, could not deliver on time and then backed out after its own mission to a Martian moon failed.

After this, Isro decided to develop its own lander. The launch was further pushed to 2019 when the scientists had to go back to the drawing board to add another central engine to the lander. Initially, it was supposed to have just four engines on four corners, but the design was changed on the suggestion of a group of eminent scientists.

After the lower orbit is achieved by the lander-rover, the powered descent to the lunar surface will begin at about 1:40am on September 7. Touchdown is slotted for 1.55 am.