The Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-2 has undergone its first de-orbit manoeuvre successfully this morning. The national space agency ISRO has said, the operation has been held 8.50 am. The short duration manoeuvre lasted for just four seconds. It helped the Lander to arrive at a 104 by 128-kilometer orbit around the moon.
The ISRO has planned to bring the Lander further close to the moon’s surface through another de-orbit manoeuvre tomorrow evening so that it could reach 36 km at the closest point and 110 km at the farthest point from the moon. It would pave way for its soft-landing near the lunar South Pole on September 7.
The Lander Vikram was separated yesterday successfully from the Orbiter of Chandrayaan-2. During the separation, the Lander also acquired almost the same orbit of the mothercraft, necessitating the de-orbit missions.
