#ISRO Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) of #Chandrayaan2 maneuver was completed successfully today (August 20, 2019). The… https://t.co/eA8DHBqHyi — ISRO (@isro) 1566275699000

BENGALURU: In a major milestone for India's Moon mission, the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has entered Moon's orbit early on Tuesday (August 20)."Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver was completed successfully today (August 20, 2019) at 0902 hrs IST as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of maneuver was 1738 seconds. With this, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit. The orbit achieved is 114 km x 18072 km," Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said in a statement.Following 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 Moons surface, it said.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 seven, Isro stated. The next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled on Wednesday between 12.30 PM and 1.30 PM, Isro said.Now that Chandrayaan-2 has completed its trek to Moon, it is just days away from Moon landing , which will put Isro in an elite club of nations—the US, USSR (now Russia) and China—to have successfully landed probes on the lunar surface.The project, which has cost India Rs 978 crore, has seen wide participation from institutions from around the country. "Nearly 500 universities and 120 industries have played a role in GSLV MkIII and Chandrayaan-2 respectively. And, 80% and 60% of the cost has gone to these," Isro chief Sivan had said.If reaching Moon's orbit is one part of the mission—Isro had already put a satellite around Moon in 2008 ( Chandrayaan-1 )—the more crucial part of Chandrayaan-2 would be to land Vikram, it's lander on Moon.Now that LOI is achieved, Isro will perform four more manoeuvres—on August 21, 28, 30 and September 1—to take the spacecraft to lower orbits and eventually make it settle in an 100kmX100km orbit, where it will spend the rest of its life.After the last manoeuvres on September 1, Chandrayaan-2 is likely to be in a 114kmX 128km orbit. After reaching the desired orbit around Moon, Isro had said: "Vikram will separate from the orbiter on September 02. Two orbit maneuvers will be performed on the lander before the initiation of powered descent to make a soft landing on the lunar surface on September 07."“The final descent of the lander will be 15 terrifying minutes for us, as it is something we’ve never tried before. It is one of the most complex operations we’ve ever handled,” Sivan said.Chandrayaan-2 is carrying a total of 14 payloads—13 Indian and one passive payload from Nasa—with special focus of the orbiter on mapping craters in the polar region, besides checking for water again.While that’s for the orbiter, the rover payloads will check on mineralogical compositions on the Moon and determine the composition (what elements it contains) of lunar rocks and soil and instruments on the lander will focus on measuring thermal properties and seismicity among other things.Chandrayaan-2 Will carry forward India's legacy after the first lunar mission and the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said."The mission is mainly to make use of space tech to help the common man lead a better life and to ensure safety, security and quality. Cyclone predictions, broadband to rural India et al are just examples of how the common man is linked with space tech. But along with this we are also looking at space science," Sivan had said."Even Vikram Sarabhai was faced with a question of why space when farmers are struggling. Today you may ask why we need to explore planets and satellites when we have other objectives, but let me assure you that these are crucial."Read this story in Marathi