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Updated: Jun 22, 2020 21:05 IST

The orbit of Chandrayaan 2 around the moon was lowered further on Wednesday in the second of the four manoeuvres in lunar orbit planned by the scientists from Indian Space Research Organisation.

The propulsion system on board the orbiter of Chandrayaan 2 was fired for 1,190 seconds at 09:04 am on Wednesday to bring the spacecraft down to an elliptical 179 x 1,412 kms.

“All spacecraft parameters are normal,” a statement from ISRO said.

Two more burns or the firing of the propulsion system will happen to reduce the apolune or the point on the lunar orbit farthest from the surface of the moon.

The next burn will happen on Friday evening.

Watch| Chandrayaan 2 about to create history: The journey so far

The final burn in the lunar orbit will take place on September to bring the spacecraft into a circular orbit close to 100x100 km orbit. This will be the final orbit from where the orbiter module of the spacecraft will collect data on the lunar surface and thin atmosphere for a year; more depending on the fuel left.

The next big milestone for ISRO will come on September 2 when the Vikram Lander and the Pragyan Rover will separate from the orbiter and start functioning on their own.

“The next major milestone will be when the lander separates from the orbiter on September 2. Till now, we have been working with the propulsion system of the orbiter. From September 2, we will have to work with the lander propulsion system. This is the phase, including the powered descent, which we will be doing for the first time, whereas, the lunar orbit insertion we have already done once,” ISRO chairperson K Sivan had said after the insertion of the spacecraft in an orbit around the moon on August 20.

The day after the separation, ISRO scientists will perform a small deboosting manoeuvre for 3 seconds to check the propulsion system of the Lander. On September 4, the real 6.5-second manoeuvre to slow the lander-rover and bring it to a lower 100 x 35km orbit will take place.

The powered descent of the lander-rover will start at 01:40 am on September 7 and the landing will happen after “fifteen minutes of terror.” This is the stage where the Israeli mission Beresheet had failed, crashing into the surface of the moon.