Six days before moon landing, final Lunar orbit manoeuvre for Chandrayaan-2 performed successfully

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that the final Lunar bound orbit manoeuvre for Chandrayaan2 was performed on Sunday. 

The orbit manoeuvre, fifth in the series was performed at 6:21 pm, ISRO said. 

"The duration of the manoeuvre was 52 seconds. The orbit achieved is 119 km x 127 km," ISRO said in a statement. 

The next operation is the separation of the Vikram Lander from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter scheduled on September 2, 2019, between 12:45 pm and 1:45 pm.

 "Following this, there will be two deorbit manoeuvres of Vikram Lander to prepare for its landing in the south polar region of the moon," the statement said. 

Chandrayaan-2 is expected to land on the surface of the moon on September 7. It entered the moon's orbit on August 20 and the first Lunar bound orbit manoeuvre for the spacecraft was performed successfully the next day. 

India created history on July 22 when ISRO launched the country’s second lunar mission. Chandrayaan 2 seeks to explore the far side of the moon, a feat no other country has achieved yet. If this landing is successful, the 10-billion-rupee mission will allow scientists to carry out studies regarding the presence of water at the moon’s south pole.

The Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission will make India the fourth country in the world to land a rover on the moon. It will also be the only country to land a rover on the south pole region of the moon.

Here is the schedule for future operations after today’s maneuver: