Visakhapatnam: NST labs have key role in lunar landing

Visakhapatnam: Chandrayaan-2 is expected to land on September 7 and India is only a few days away from great success. The Naval Science and Technological Laboratory has also contributed to the safe landing of Chandrayaan-2. Two laser instruments used in Vikram lander were calibrated at the towing tank to check its function and accuracy.

Usually, Vikram lander uses many sophisticated instruments for the safe and precise landing of the rover on the moon. Radio and optical instruments are also used for this. Two such laser optical instruments developed by ISRO were calibrated for their function and accuracy at the NSTL towing tank.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, space scientist and ISRO professor N. Vedachalam said, “Touchdown of the lander and rover is one of the toughest parts of Chandrayaan 2. In the final touchdown from about 500 meters, multiple instruments will be used for a safe touchdown. Two of the instruments were calibrated at the towing tank of NSTL. The NSTL has a world-class facility, establishing a towing tank with `138 crores. This was used to calibrate two laser optical instruments. In this way, NSTL has also contributed to the safe landing of Chandrayaan 2, which will make every Indian proud on September 7.”

Meanwhile,  ISRO’s scientists performed the third lunar bound orbit maneuver for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft successfully on Wednesday. The exercise had commenced at 09.04 am using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of the maneuver was 1190 seconds. The orbit achieved is 179 km x 1412 km.
All spacecraft parameters are normal. The next lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled on August 30, 2019 between 6 pm and 7 pm.