Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft is scheduled to reach the moon's orbit by August 20, 2019.

The GSLV MKIII M1 rocket successfully placed the Chandrayaan–2 spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit of 170 x 45475 km on July 22, 2019.

The first earth-bound orbit raising manoeuvre for the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully today (July 24, 2019) at 1452 hr as planned, using the on-board propulsion system for a firing duration of 57 seconds.

The new orbit will be 230 X 45163 km. The second orbit raising manoeuvre is scheduled on July 26, 2019, at 0109 hr, ISRO said in an update on the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

Major activities that lie ahead include Earth-bound manoeuvres, Trans-Lunar Insertion, lunar-bound manoeuvres, Vikram separation and Vikram Touch Down.

Earth-bound manoeuvres are planned to be executed from today culminating into Trans-Lunar Insertion scheduled on August 14, 2019, which will send the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft to moon, said ISRO.

The lander Vikram will land on the moon on September 7.

Revised schedule

As per the original schedule, GSLV-Mk III rocket carrying Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was supposed to lift-off on July 15. However, due to a serious technical glitch, the flight was postponed to July 22. This resulted changes in the mission schedule.

As per the original flight schedule, the Chandrayaan-2’s earth-bound phase was 17 days, but is now 23 days as per the revised schedule. However, the lunar bound phase, which was for 28 days originally, has been reduced to 13 days.

According to the July 15 schedule, Vikram was planned to land on the moon 54 days after the rocket’s lift-off, but will now it will take place in 48 days.

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