LUNAR ORBIT INSERTION

Lunar orbit insertion:

• Insertion into lunar orbit means, just like it was going around the Earth at the start of its journey, Chandrayaan-2 is now orbiting the Moon.
  
  
• After being launched, Chandrayaan-2 had been put in an elliptical orbit around the Earth.
  
  
• It spent nearly a week in that orbit, before firing a booster once again to break free from the Earth orbit and begin its journey towards the Moon.
  
  
• After five days of this journey, Chandrayaan-2 came sufficiently close to the Moon to experience its gravity. And on August 20, it entered into an orbit around the Moon.
  
  

Way ahead:

• Following this, a series of orbit maneuvers will be performed on Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft to enable it to enter its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon’s surface.
  
  
• Subsequently, the Vikram lander will separate from the Orbiter and enters into a 100 km X 30 km orbit around the Moon. Then, it will perform a series of complex braking maneuvers to soft land in the South polar region of the Moon on September 7, 2019.