Lunar orbit Archives - Defence Monitor

08 May

China’s Chang’e-6 enters lunar orbit after near-moon braking

Beijing, May 8, China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe has successfully entered its circumlunar orbit, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Wednesday. According to the CNSA, at 10:12 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday, Chang'e-6 successfully performed a near-moon braking procedure before entering the circumlunar orbit, Xinhua news agency reported. The near-moon braking procedure is a key orbital control for Chang'e-6 during its flight. The braking makes its relative speed lower than the lunar escape velocity so that it can be captured by the Moon's gravity and fly around the Moon. Supported by the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, Chang'e-6 will later adjust…

28 Dec

Japan’s SLIM lander shares 1st Moon images from lunar orbit

Tokyo, Dec 28, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) moon lander has shared first images of the lunar surface from the Moon's orbit. The 2.7 metres SLIM launched on September 6 along with XRISM, a powerful X-ray space telescope. It successfully entered lunar orbit on Christmas day, successfully setting the stage for the nation's first-ever moon landing on January 20, 2024, the agency said. The image shared by JAXA on X is monochrome, and details images of the crater-pocketed moon surface. The images were created after the spacecraft was successfully inserted into lunar orbit at…

26 Dec

Japan’s robotic SLIM Moon lander enters lunar orbit on Christmas

Tokyo, Dec 26, The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has successfully entered lunar orbit on Christmas day, successfully setting the stage for the nation's first-ever moon landing on January 20, 2024, the agency said. The robotic SLIM moon lander successfully inserted into lunar orbit at 16:51 (Japan Standard Time, JST) on December 25, 2023, JAXA said in a mission update. The 2.7 metres SLIM launched on September 6 along with XRISM, a powerful X-ray space telescope. If successful, Japan will become just the fifth country to successfully soft-land on the Moon, after Russia, US,…

21 Aug

Chandrayaan-2 successfully enters 2nd Lunar orbit

Chennai: The second Lunar orbit manoeuvre for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was successfully completed on Wednesday, said India Space Research Organisation (ISRO).According to ISRO, the orbit manoeuvre began at 12.50 p.m. and took 1,228 seconds to complete. The orbit achieved is 118 km X 4,412 km.All spacecraft parameters are normal. The next Lunar bound orbit manoeuvre is scheduled on August 28, 2019 between 5.30 a.m. - 6.30 a.m.On Tuesday, the Chandrayaan-2 was put into its first Lunar orbit.On July 22, the Chandrayaan-2 was injected into an elliptical orbit of 170X45,475 km by India's heavy lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV Mk…