Depends on where you are. Are you in India ? then un-God-ly hours it is.
The powered descent and landing will take place on 7th September between 1:40 am-1:55 am IST.
From what I remember of the press meet, he said the four smaller thrusters will shut off when the lander is still hovering, and only the central thruster will be firing during touchdown, so as to avoid the issue of dust flying up and landing on the instruments.
Operating only the central thruster as it lands apparently mitigates this problem.
Here is a look at the first Moon image captured by Chandrayaan 2 's "Vikram" lander taken at a height of about 2650 km from Lunar surface on August 21, 2019.
For comparison, this is the first image of the Moon taken by Chandrayaan-1 on 4th November 2008 from a distance of 311,200 km.
We've traveled many miles, and we still have many more miles to go. Perhaps the most apt line to describe how I fell about this is the motto of the INS Kalvari. As the Navy says : "Ever Onward".
For comparison, this is the first image of the Moon taken by Chandrayaan-1 on 4th November 2008 from a distance of 311,200 km.
We've traveled many miles, and we still have many more miles to go. Perhaps the most apt line to describe how I fell about this is the motto of the INS Kalvari. As the Navy says : "Ever Onward".
Images of Lunar Surface captured by Terrain Mapping Camera -2 (TMC-2) of Chandrayaan 2
Aug 26, 2019
Lunar surface imaged by Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC-2) on 23rd August 2019 at an altitude of ~4375 km showing impact craters such as Jackson, Mitra, Mach and Korolev :
Jackson is an impact crater located in the northern hemisphere of the far side of the Moon. It is a 71 km dia crater at 22.4°N and 163.1°W (shown in the inset). The interesting feature at the western outer rim of Mach crater is another impact crater, Mitra (92 km dia). It is named after Prof. Sisir Kumar Mitra, who was an Indian physicist and Padma Bhushan recipient known for his pioneering work in the field of ionosphere and Radiophysics. The Korolev crater seen in the image is a 437 km crater which has several small craters of varying sizes.
Lunar surface imaged by Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC-2) on 23rd August 2019 at an altitude of ~4375 km showing impact craters such as Sommerfeld and Kirkwood :
Sommerfeld is a large impact crater located in the farside northern latitudes of the Moon. It is a 169km dia crater at 65.2°N and 162.4°W. It has relatively flat interior surrounded by a ring mountain and a number of smaller craters lie along the rim edge. The crater is named after Dr. Arnold Sommerfeld who is a German physicist pioneered in the field of atomic and quantum physics. North east to this crater lies the Kirkwood crater named after the American astronomer Daniel Kirkwood, another well-formed impact crater which is approximately 68 km dia.
Lunar north polar region imaged by Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC-2) on 23rd August 2019 at an altitude of ~4375 km showing impact craters such as Plaskett (109km), Rozhdestvenskiy (177km) and Hermite (104 km ; one of the coldest spots in the solar system ~ 25 deg K) :
Aug 26, 2019
Lunar surface imaged by Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC-2) on 23rd August 2019 at an altitude of ~4375 km showing impact craters such as Jackson, Mitra, Mach and Korolev :
Jackson is an impact crater located in the northern hemisphere of the far side of the Moon. It is a 71 km dia crater at 22.4°N and 163.1°W (shown in the inset). The interesting feature at the western outer rim of Mach crater is another impact crater, Mitra (92 km dia). It is named after Prof. Sisir Kumar Mitra, who was an Indian physicist and Padma Bhushan recipient known for his pioneering work in the field of ionosphere and Radiophysics. The Korolev crater seen in the image is a 437 km crater which has several small craters of varying sizes.
Lunar surface imaged by Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC-2) on 23rd August 2019 at an altitude of ~4375 km showing impact craters such as Sommerfeld and Kirkwood :
Sommerfeld is a large impact crater located in the farside northern latitudes of the Moon. It is a 169km dia crater at 65.2°N and 162.4°W. It has relatively flat interior surrounded by a ring mountain and a number of smaller craters lie along the rim edge. The crater is named after Dr. Arnold Sommerfeld who is a German physicist pioneered in the field of atomic and quantum physics. North east to this crater lies the Kirkwood crater named after the American astronomer Daniel Kirkwood, another well-formed impact crater which is approximately 68 km dia.
Lunar north polar region imaged by Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC-2) on 23rd August 2019 at an altitude of ~4375 km showing impact craters such as Plaskett (109km), Rozhdestvenskiy (177km) and Hermite (104 km ; one of the coldest spots in the solar system ~ 25 deg K) :
Firing duration of the Lunar bound maneuver performed today was 1190 seconds. Event started at 0904 hrs IST instead of the scheduled window between 0530 hrs and 0630 hrs IST.
Targeted orbit : 178 km X 1411 km
Achieved orbit : 178 km X 1412 km
Accurate to 1 freaking kilometer
Meanwhile I struggle to park a car properly without readjusting 3 times.
Targeted orbit : 178 km X 1411 km
Achieved orbit : 178 km X 1412 km
Accurate to 1 freaking kilometer
Meanwhile I struggle to park a car properly without readjusting 3 times.
Firing duration of the Lunar bound maneuver performed today was 1190 seconds. Event started at 0904 hrs IST instead of the scheduled window between 0530 hrs and 0630 hrs IST.
Targeted orbit : 178 km X 1411 km
Achieved orbit : 178 km X 1412 km
Accurate to 1 freaking kilometer
Meanwhile I struggle to park a car properly without readjusting 3 times.
I'm sure I can park any vehicle with an error margin of 1Km.
Touché.I'm sure I can park any vehicle with an error margin of 1Km.
I should have mentioned "Not to scale" before citing that example.
Totally missed this. My bad.
Chandrayaan-2 update: Fourth Lunar Orbit Maneuver - ISRO
Targeted orbit : 126 km X 164 km
Attained orbit : 126 km X 164 km
@randomradio the accuracy of orbital maneuver just got better.
Chandrayaan-2 update: Fourth Lunar Orbit Maneuver - ISRO
Targeted orbit : 126 km X 164 km
Attained orbit : 126 km X 164 km
@randomradio the accuracy of orbital maneuver just got better.
I know that many women are part of this program and I am really astonished by the accuracy they are doing it. My own experience with my wife and other ladies is that they just can't back off.Totally missed this. My bad.
Chandrayaan-2 update: Fourth Lunar Orbit Maneuver - ISRO
Targeted orbit : 126 km X 164 km
Attained orbit : 126 km X 164 km
@randomradio the accuracy of orbital maneuver just got better.
If you go to any car showroom, you will find man looking at the back of the car to see how it looks and women are always looking at the front of the car to see how it looks. That explains it all.
Someone very wisely said, "if women had marketing sense, they will not buy a whole pig for 200 grams of sausage".
Chandrayaan-2 update: Fifth Lunar Orbit Maneuver
Sep 01, 2019
The final and fifth Lunar bound orbit maneuver for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully today (September 01, 2019) beginning at 1821 hrs IST as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of the maneuver was 52 seconds. The orbit achieved is 119 km x 127 km.
All spacecraft parameters are normal.
The next operation is the separation of Vikram Lander from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, which is scheduled on September 02, 2019, between 1245 – 1345 hrs (IST). Following this, there will be two deorbit maneuvers of Vikram Lander to prepare for its landing in the south polar region of the moon.
Sep 01, 2019
The final and fifth Lunar bound orbit maneuver for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully today (September 01, 2019) beginning at 1821 hrs IST as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of the maneuver was 52 seconds. The orbit achieved is 119 km x 127 km.
All spacecraft parameters are normal.
The next operation is the separation of Vikram Lander from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, which is scheduled on September 02, 2019, between 1245 – 1345 hrs (IST). Following this, there will be two deorbit maneuvers of Vikram Lander to prepare for its landing in the south polar region of the moon.
What are these orbit dimensions?are they perigee and apogee??and whats the reference of the measurement,i.e the centre??Totally missed this. My bad.
Chandrayaan-2 update: Fourth Lunar Orbit Maneuver - ISRO
Targeted orbit : 126 km X 164 km
Attained orbit : 126 km X 164 km
@randomradio the accuracy of orbital maneuver just got better.
Yes they are apogee and perigee. The centre is the moon, because the CY-2 is orbiting the moon. Before going to the moon the CY-2 was orbiting Earth, then the centre was Earth.
Apogee is the maximum distance from centre, perigee is the minimum distance.
So if the orbit is (126 km X 164 km), as it was back then. 126 km is perigee and 164 km is apogee.
Now the orbit is (119 km X 127 km), so you know the apogee and the perigee.
The lander will land obviously. But the final orbit for the orbiter is a (100 km X 100 km) circular orbit.
The reason why we have to do so many orbital manuevers is because of the transfer mechanism. We used a Hohmann minimum energy transfer instead of a direct transfer. And the highly elliptical orbit of CY-2 around the moon is a by-product of that.
They as in any satellite or CY-2 ?
There are two ways of doing that :
1. The insertion to orbit has to be done in a angular manner by the Launch vehicle.
2. The satellite in a circular orbit burns fuel at regular specific intervals to "raise" the orbit creating a elliptical orbit.
CY-2 does both. The GSLV MK-3 inserted the CY-2 at a elliptical orbit around the Earth. There the CY-2 burned fuel to raise the orbit even more, to the point where the orbit became unstable and the gravity of Earth slingshot the CY-2 at a specific trajectory. The trajectory was designed such that the CY-2 will fall under the influence of Moon's gravity and will thus be captured by the Moon. Lunar orbit of the CY-2 will also be elliptical, this is because the Earth slingshots the CY-2 in a trajectory tangential to the moon surface. CY-2 will obviously adjust that to avoid the surface of moon but not moon's gravity.
This slingshot trajectory is what they call the Hohmann transfer trajectory.
The reference is the moon's surface, so the actual apogee and perigee will be + the moon's radius.