ISRO completes de-oribital operation of moon lander Vikram

ISRO informed that the first moon lander of India, namely Vikram which got separated from its mother spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 on Monday, is nearer to the Moon. According to ISRO, the de-orbital operation has begun at 8.50 a.m. on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Vikram is scheduled to land on the south polar region of the moon on September 7 between 1.30 a.m. to 2.30 a.m.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): India's first moon lander -- Vikram -- on Tuesday got nearer to the Moon with the Indian space agency successfully completing the first of the two de-orbital operations.

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the de-orbital operation has begun at 8.50 a.m. as already had planned. Using the onboard propulsion system for 4 seconds the operation was carried out successfully.

The orbit of Vikram Lander is 104 km x 128 km, the space agency said.

The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon in the existing orbit and both the Orbiter and Lander are healthy.

The next de-orbiting operation is scheduled on Wednesday between 3.30 a.m - 4.30 a.m.

On Monday afternoon, Vikram got separated from its mother spacecraft Chandrayaan-2.

Vikram is scheduled to land on the south polar region of the moon on September 7 between 1.30 a.m. to 2.30 a.m.

After the moon touchdown by Vikram, the rover -- Pragyan -- will roll down from the former to carry out the research for which it was designed.

Meanwhile, the Orbiter continues to fly around the moon.

On July 22, the Chandrayaan-2 was launched into space by India's heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV Mk III) in a textbook style launch.