Nellore: Isro scientists raised the orbit of the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft using the onboard propulsion system early on Friday. Exactly at 1.08 am, Isro scientists fired the engines for 883 seconds, pushing Chandrayaan-2 to a highly elliptical orbit. The spacecraft now files 251 km above the earth at its closest approach (perigee) and will be 54,829 km away at its farthest (apogee). All spacecraft parameters are reported to be normal.
When it was launched on the GSLV MkII ‘Baahubali’ rocket, Chandrayaan’s orbit had a perigee of 169.7 km and an apogee of 45,475 km. The third orbit raising manoeuvre is scheduled on July 29.
These manoeuvres are being carried out to raise its orbit and place Chandrayaan-2 in the lunar transfer trajectory. It will reach the moon’s orbit on September 1. The roundabout route has been taken to conserve fuel.
Thought the mission will take more time, sources said that India was saving substantial amounts of money.
