New Delhi, Aug. 2 : Chandrayaan-2 completed its final manoeuvre on Sunday. After entering the fifth- orbit of the moon, ‘Vikram’ lander and Pragyan rover successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 module at 1.15 pm this Monday afternoon.
According to ISRO Chairman K. Sivan, it just took about a second for the two landers to be separated from the Chandrayaan-2 module. This happened at the same speed as any satellite differs from the space vehicle.
ISRO gave the command to separate the integrated spacecraft and later, the onboard system itself carried out further operations. This isolation process used the same technology that pilots use while escaping out of the aircraft to save their lives after a fighter aircraft malfunctions.
According to ISRO scientists, the lander and rover placed in the
extension of the fuel above the orbiter were attached to the clamps and bolts
on two sides of a spring which had been separated by a command.
From then onwards, the lander Vikram would start moving towards the moon with the Pragyan rover within him.
The biggest challenge would be to control the vehicle’s orbiter. That is, scientists will have to work together for the accuracy of the orbiter and the lander Vikram.
After September 4, for the next three days, the lander would revolve in the nearest orbit of 35×97 kilometres (Kms) towards the Vikram lander.
During this time, Vikram lander and Pragyan rover would be investigated.
In this way, on September 7 at 1:55 am, Vikram would land on South pole of the moon. Four hours later, the rover ignition would come out which would cover a total distance of 500 metres in 14 days on the lunar surface.
It would be equivalent to one day according to the moon because a lunar day is equal to 14 days on Earth.
After the soft landing, India would become the fourth country after America, Russia and China to achieve this monumental feat. Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Chandrayaan-2 sent beautiful pictures of the moon for the first time on August 22, exactly one month after its launch.
Earlier, Chandrayaan-2 had first sent pictures of the Earth with its LI4 camera which was released by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on its Twitter handle on August 4.
