BENGALURU: AUGUST, 28; GANASHAKTI: Lunar lander spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 was manoeuvred into a closer orbit to the moon on Wednesday morning.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it performed a nearly 20-minute third orbit action on the spacecraft which had been orbiting the moon since August 20. The action was done from its Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) facility in Bengaluru.
The manoeuvres are done to gradually make the craft’s oval orbit circular. It now goes around moon in a 179 km x 1,412 km orbit and should achieve an orbit of 100 km x100 km by September 1.
The ISRO has scheduled the next lunar-bound orbit reduction for August 30, 2019 between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. and another one on September 1.
