Chandrayaan: Closer to the Moon

India's maiden lunar mission completes yet another crucial landmark.

The Chandrayaan completed one of its most complicated maneuvers on Saturday when it was "injected" into the lunar orbit. After being released from the Earth's orbit, the Chandrayaan, which was orbiting the moon in an elliptical orbit with an aposelene (farthest point from the moon) of 7502 km and a periselene (nearest point from the moon) of 504 km, has had its periselene reduced to a mere 200 km. Currently, the aposelene continues to be at 7500 km. The gradual reduction in the periselene was achieved by giving commands to the engines on board the Chandrayaan, which fired at the right time-forcing the craft to its changed orbit.

In the coming days, there are three more maneuvers to be completed, which include steps to further decrease the orbital height. The final maneuver would put India's Chandrayaan in its intended orbital path around the moon, which would be a circular one, resulting in the craft flying at a distance of just 100 km above the surface of the moon. Once that happens, the Moon Impact Probe is expected to detach from the craft and crash-land on the moon. Post the probe detachment, all the scientific instruments aboard the craft will switch on, thereby signaling an end to the "travelling to the moon" phase and the start of the "exploration" phase. Chandrayaan happens to be the most heavily equipped lunar probe to have visited the moon in recent times.