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Chandrayaan’s orbit further reduced

CHENNAI: One more firing of the engine on board Chandrayaan-1 on Tuesday evening reduced its periselene (nearest distance to the moon) from 187 km to 101 km. The firing of the engine lasted 31 seconds from 6.30 p.m.

The spacecraft has now an aposelene (farthest distance from the moon) of 255 km and a periselene of 101 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1, takes two hours and nine minutes to go round the moon once.

All sub-systems on board the spacecraft were working well, a spokesman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said from Bangalore.

On Wednesday evening, the Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at Bangalore will issue commands to the spacecraft’s engine, called the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM), for reducing its aposelene from 255 km to 100 km. (It is powered by liquid propellants). When it is done successfully, the spacecraft will be in its final circular orbit of 100 km above the moon.

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