India’s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 left the Earth’s orbit on August 14 and is moving towards the moon following the successful completion of a crucial manoeuvre by the Indian Space Research Organisation.

ISRO’s most powerful three-stage rocket GSLV MkIII-M1 had launched the spacecraft into the orbit of the Earth on July 22 from the spaceport of Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft is expected to reach the moon’s orbit on August 20 and land on the lunar surface on September 7.

Current status of the mission

ISRO said it has carried out a manoeuvre called ‘Trans Lunar Insertion’ at 2:21 am, following which the spacecraft has successfully entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory.

“During the final orbit raising of the spacecraft around the Earth, the liquid engine was fired for about 1,203 seconds. With this, Chandrayaan-2 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory,” ISRO said.

Earlier, the spacecraft’s orbit was progressively increased five times between July 23 and August 6.

The health of the spacecraft is being “continuously monitored” from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu, near Bengaluru, it said.

“Since its launch on July 22, all systems onboard Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are performing normally,” the space agency said.

What are the next levels?

The spacecraft will approach the moon on August 20 and then its liquid engine will be fired again to insert it into lunar orbit.

“Following this, there will be four orbit manoeuvres to make the spacecraft enter its final orbit, passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the moon’s surface,” it said.

After 13 days of moon-bound orbit phase, the lander Vikram carrying rover Pragyan will separate and after another few days of orbiting will soft land on September 7 in the south pole region of the moon, where no country has gone so far.

If successful, the mission will make India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to pull off a soft landing on the moon.

The orbiter carries eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface and study the exosphere (outer atmosphere) of the moon while the lander carries three scientific payloads to conduct surface and subsurface science experiments.

The rover carries two payloads to enhance the understanding of the lunar surface. A passive experiment from NASA will also be carried onboard Chandrayaan-2.

Following the landing, the rover will roll out from the lander and carry out experiments on the lunar surface for one lunar day, which is equal to 14 Earth days. The mission life of the lander is also one lunar day, while the orbiter will continue its mission for a year.

The mission aims to further expand the knowledge about the moon through a detailed study of its topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics and atmosphere, leading to a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the moon.