INDIA -- The Chandrayaan 2, the lunar lander of India was launched into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India in July of this year. On Tuesday, its officials announced that it has finally entered the moon's orbit, executing what is considered as the trickiest maneuvers to its expected lunar landing. This is definitely one of the most historic missions to the Moon.
After spending four weeks in space, the craft was able to complete its Lunar orbit Insertion in time as planned. This was part of the statement released by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
"The insertion was completed today at 9:02 in the morning IST (0332 GMT) as expected, utilizing the onboard propulsion system. The maneuver took place in 1738 seconds," said the National Space Agency in their statement.
India seeks to become one of the nations in the world that have sent a spacecraft to the moon. At the moment, there are only three -- Russia, China, and the United States of America. If deemed successful, India would be at par with the other three countries in its desire to send its own lunar lander on the surface of the moon.
If the rest of the mission goes as planned, the Indian lunar probe will make a landing at the Southern Pole of the Moon, hopefully by September 7. To be able to enter the final orbit and make a smooth landing on the surface of the moon, the Chandrayaan 2 will have to undergo four similar maneuvers. Its next schedule will have to be on Wednesday.
K. Sivan, chief of the ISRO said that the first maneuver was a key milestone for this mission as it is something that they anticipated would be challenging. However, he also said that the agency is hoping that the lander would have a smooth landing next month.
"On September of this year, the Indian lander will be on the surface of the moon. Our team has done everything humanly possible to make it happen," Sivan said. "We can only hope that it is good enough to make a good landing possible."
The insertion on Tuesday was one of the trickiest it had to undergo because if the satellite approached the moon at a relatively higher velocity, it would have simply bounced off and got lost in deep space.
If it had come in at a slower velocity, the moon's gravity would have pulled it in and caused the lander to crash.
India remains to be ambitious about making a name in space exploration.
