The article on “Big Success For India As Chandrayaan 2 Enters The Moon’s Orbit” was last updated in August 2019 and contains information related to Chandrayaan 2 enters moon orbit, ISRO shares first picture, first picture of moon taken from Chandrayaan 2, Chain Of Events For Chandrayaan 2, The Next Big Moves For Chandrayaan 2, PM Modi Congratulated The ISRO Team, Chandrayaan 2 launch date, Mission of Chandrayaan 2, Chandrayaan 2 into lunar orbit

The big news coming from Indian Space Research Organisation is the one where Chandrayaan 2 enters moon orbit on August 20, 2019. The spacecraft is unmanned and its Vikram lander is making steady progress as it prepares to land on the moon the next month. The Chandrayaan 2 landing date is slated to be on September 7, 2019. If successful, India will put itself against the elite group of countries who have successfully landed on the moon. It is seen as a big success for India as Chandrayaan 2 enters the moon’s orbit after the initial launch date on July 14, 2019, was postponed till July 22, 2019, due to some technical glitch.

ISRO shares the first picture of the moon captured by Chandrayaan 2.

The Chain Of Events For Chandrayaan 2 Till Now

The entering of the lunar orbit has taken place after almost 30 days of space travel by Chandrayaan 2 and the process wasn’t easy at all. The approach velocity with which the spacecraft could establish itself in the orbit needed to be very precise otherwise the results could have been fatal. If the approach velocity was higher than expected, that would have thrown the spacecraft into deep space and it was slower, that would have resulted in crashing of Chandrayaan 2 on the lunar surface due to moon’s gravity pull. A little error in precision would have led to the end of this mission.

The Next Big Moves For Chandrayaan 2

All eyes are on September 2 first as the lander will separate itself from the orbiter. India is going to attempt its first-ever lunar landing between two craters where the surface is relatively flat. This region is in the south polar side of the moon where no previous landing by any country has been attempted.

Talking about the technicality, the separation of the lander will lead to its entering a 100 km x 30 km lunar orbit. The soft landing on the moon on September 7 will be possible only after certain complex manoeuvres are successfully done.

What makes the landing of Chandrayaan 2 even trickier is the fact that it blasted off at a very high velocity of 39,240 kmph. This velocity is almost 30 times the speed of sound travelling through the air.

Talking about the complexity of the moon mission, the former director of the ISRO satellite centre said that it is like imagining a gentleman who wants to propose a lady and has a rose in his hands, but that lady is dancing at a speed of 3,600 kmph and is at a distance of 3.84 lac kms. The chances of the couple to meet are entirely based on precision and accuracy and that is the case with this operation.

PM Modi Congratulated The ISRO Team

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the ISRO team via a tweet on the successful entering of moon’s orbit by Chandrayaan 2. He reiterated the importance of this event in the journey to the moon.

Notably, The Chandrayaan 2 was launched from southern India part of Sriharikota on July 22 after the Chandrayaan 2 launch date got delayed from the initial date of July 14, 2019. The stand out achievement of the mission is also the fact that only Rs. 1000 crore were spent on it which a much lesser expense when compared to other countries with similar missions. The Chandrayaan 2 landing on the moon is due for September 7, 2019, and the entire world will be watching it closely.

Till now only three countries, namely the U.S., Russia and China have successfully landed their aircraft on the moon. Although the first lunar mission of India, Chandrayaan-1, did reach the orbit of the moon in 2008 but it wasn’t soft-landed on its surface. After being operational for 312 days, the spacecraft was intentionally crashed on the moon to launch an impact probe.

Mission of Chandrayaan 2

Chandrayaan 2 mission
Image Source: theborneopost

Entire India will be wishing for the success of this moon mission as the news of Chandrayaan 2 into lunar orbit has increased the optimism now.