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| Chandrayan enter lunar orbit | | |
AGENCIES
Mumbai, Nov 8: Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar orbit successfully. The spacecraft will last around 800 seconds in 7,500km x 500km elliptical orbit around the moon.
"The lunar orbit insertion (LOI) will start around 5 p.m. and last around 800 seconds," ISRO spokesperson S Satish told before it's launch.
The spacecraft has been launched into the 7,500 km x 500 km elliptical orbit around the moon.
According to space experts, LOI is not without danger because it means traversing through an area in which the gravitational forces of the earth and moon nearly cancel each other out. Consequently, even a small deviation could send the spacecraft into a crash course towards the moon or earth - or on a path leading into deep space. Experts recall that about 30% of unmanned moon missions of US and the former Soviet Union failed during an LOI.
ISRO official said: "Despite the challenging manouevre on Saturday, the professionalism of scientists and engineers makes us approach the task with optimism, although I admit to a feeling of nervous apprehension. It will be a test for everyone, including the deep space network at Byalalu and the electronic brain of the Chandrayaan spacecraft," he said.
The main challenge was targeting the spacecraft accurately to pass near the moon on Saturday at a "safe" distance of a few hundred kilometres. The distance between the earth and the moon is 3,86,000 km.
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