Chandrayaan-2 closer to the moon as ISRO performs second lunar-bound orbit manoeuvre, 13 more to go

ISRO on Wednesday said it has performed the second lunar bound orbit manoeuvre for the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft that is currently in the lunar orbit for its rendezvous with the Moon. All spacecraft parameters are normal, the Bengaluru headquartered space agency said after the maneuver.

"Second Lunar bound orbit manoeuvre for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully today (August 21, 2019) beginning at 1250 hrs IST as planned, using the onboard propulsion system.

The duration of the manouver was 1228 seconds. The orbit achieved is 118 km x 4412 km," ISRO said.

The next Lunar bound orbit manoeuvre is scheduled on August 28, 2019 between 5.30 - 6.30 hrs IST.

India's indigenous moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh earlier this month.

The spacecraft took off at 2.43 pm, exactly a week after the mission was aborted after a technical snag was detected less than an hour before the launch. In the run-up to the launch, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on its Twitter, gave regular updates about preparations.

ISRO chief K Sivan on Sunday said that the Chandrayaan-2 will perform 15 crucial manoeuvres in the days to come. He added that all the preparatory work regarding the launch has been completed, and technical glitches that developed in the first attempt have been rectified.