The Indian landing station is about to land on the Moon

The Vikram station detached from the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft at 2:45 pm on September 2 (Hanoi time), ready to land near the southern tip of the Moon.

The Chandrayaan-2 will continue to fly around the Moon for about a year. Meanwhile, Vikram plans to land on the moon at 3:25 on September 7 (Hanoi time) with a 15-minute energy reduction process. The landing point is a flat area between two sunken pits, closest to the southernmost pole than the previous spacecraft. If successful, the event will mark India's first landing on the Moon, and will make India the fourth country after the Soviet Union, the United States and China to do so.

Picture 1 of The Indian landing station is about to land on the Moon
The Vikram landing station separated from the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft on September 2.(Photo: Space).

"All systems of the Chandrayaan-2 and landing stations are working," said the representative of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Both are flying in their own orbits

The Chandrayaan-2 has been launched into space since July and into orbit of the Moon on August 20. Since then, the control specialist at ISRO has made many adjustments to ensure the ship is on track. Chandrayaan-2 carries many scientific instruments, including two cameras and tools to identify the elements of the lunar soil, calculate the amount of frozen water, and measure the amount of solar X-rays emitted.

Vikram will land early in the day to collect a lot of data before the cold night comes, forcing it to stop working. The landing station is equipped with an ionosphere research tool, temperatures on the lunar surface and earthquakes. Vikram also carries a laser reflector so scientists can measure the distance from the Earth to a specific location on the Moon, even when the landing station runs out of energy.

The 27 kg Pragyan expedition car, which is located inside Vikram, will be out after about 4 hours after landing. The vehicle carries equipment that helps analyze mineral samples near the landing.

  1. India's Chandrayaan 2 goes into lunar orbit
  2. India's lunar rover sends the first image to Earth