CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently carried out an evasive manoeuvre for the first time in its space exploration mission to prevent a collision between Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter and the US' Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
On October 20, 2021, the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) LRA are expected to approach quite close to one other near the Lunar North Pole, according to ISRO. According to ISRO and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) calculations, the radial separation between the two spacecraft on October 20, 2021 at 11.15 a.m. Indian time would be less than 100 m and the closest approach distance would be only approximately three kilometres.
ISRO and NASA decided that the scenario necessitated a collision avoidance manoeuvre, and the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter was shifted away on October 18, 2021, providing a suitably high radial separation at the next closest approach between the two spacecraft. According to ISRO, after orbit determination of Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter post-manoeuvre tracking data, it was determined that there would be no further close conjunctions with LRO with the attained orbit in the foreseeable future. Both orbiters follow a roughly polar orbit around the moon, bringing them close to each other over the lunar poles. For the past two years, the Indian Orbiter has been orbiting the moon.
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