Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram Landing: Things are progressing as per plan

Friday (September 6): ISRO Chaiorman K Sivan has assured ‘Vikram’ module’s soft landing on the lunar surface. With the few hours left for Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram’s proposed landing, he told, “We are eagerly waiting for the event. Everything is going according to the plan.”

The touch-down of ‘Vikram’ lander is scheduled between 1.30 am and 2.30 am on Saturday, followed by the rollout of rover ‘Pragyan’ between 5.30 a.m and 6.30 a.m. The soft landing will be telecast live from 1.10 a.m on Doordarshan, webcast on ISRO website and streamed on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

The module ‘Vikram’ will perform a series of complex braking manoeuvres to soft land in the South polar region of the Moon between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, on September 7.

The successful landing will make India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to achieve a soft landing on the moon. And importantlyIndia will be the first to launch a mission to the unexplored south polar region.

Chandrayaan-2, a follow-on mission to the Chandrayaan-1 comprises an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan). India’s GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) MkIII-M1 successfully launched the 3,840-kg Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft into the Earth’s orbit on July 22.