Excitement and tension mounts as India’s first moon lander Vikram is all set to land on the moon at early hours on September 7 with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completing the second and final de-orbital operations successfully on Wednesday.

The second de-orbiting manoeuvre for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully on September 4, beginning at 0342 hrs IST as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of the maneuver was 9 seconds, according to ISRO.

The orbit of Vikram Lander is 35 km x 101 km. Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon in an orbit of 96 km x 125 km and both the Orbiter and Lander are healthy. With this manoeuvre the required orbit for the Vikram Lander to commence its descent towards the surface of the Moon is achieved.

The Lander is scheduled to powered descent between 0100 - 0200 hrs IST on September 7, 2019, which is then followed by touch down of Lander between 0130 - 0230 hrs IST, says an update from ISRO.

The ₹978-crore Chandrayaan2 was launched on July 22 from Sriharikota by India’s heavy lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III.

With inputs from Anil Urs

Timeline of Chandrayaan 2
  • September 4, 2019 - Second de-orbiting manoeuvre
  • September 3 - First de-orbiting manoeuver
  • September 2 - Vikram Lander successfully separates from Orbiter
  • September 1- Fifth Lunar Orbit Manoeuvre
  • August 30 - Fourth Lunar Orbit Manoeuvre
  • August 28 - Third Lunar bound Orbit Manoeuvre
  • August 26 - Images of Lunar Surface captured by Terrain Mapping Camera -2 (TMC-2) of Chandrayaan 2
  • August 22 - Moon as viewed by Chandrayaan-2 LI4 Camera on 21 August 2019 19:03 UT
  • August 21 - Second Lunar Orbit Manoeuvre
  • August 20 -Lunar Orbit Insertion
  • August 6 - Fifth earth bound manoeuvre
  • August 4 - First set of images of the Earth captured by Chandrayaan-2 Vikram Lander
  • August 3 - Online space Quiz on Chandrayaan2
  • August 2 - Fourth earth bound manoeuvre
  • July 29 - Third earth bound manoeuvre
  • July 26 - Second earth bound manoeuvre
  • July 24 - First earth bound manoeuvre
  • July 24 - Optimised Mission Plan of Chandrayaan – 2 Spacecraft
  • July 22 - Successful launch of Chandrayaan 2
  • July 21 - Countdown begins
  • July 20 - Launch rehearsal completed
  • July 18 - Chandrayaan 2 launch rescheduled to 22 July, 2019, at 14:43 hrs
  • July 15 - Chandrayaan 2 launch called off due a technical snag
  • July 14 - The launch countdown of GSLV MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan-2 commenced

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