India will launch Chandrayaan-2 on July 15,2019 and it will be India’s first lunar landing mission.
The orbit of Chandrayaan-2 around the Moon will be circularised to 100km orbit through a series of complex orbital maneuvers with the help of thrusters.
On the day of landing, the lander – Vikram – will separate from the orbiter and then perform a series of maneuvers comprising of ‘rough’ and ‘fine’ braking.
Vikram will land near the Moon’s South Pole on September 6 or 7, 2019. Subsequently, the rover – Pragyan – will roll out and carry out experiments on lunar surface for one lunar day (or 14 Earth days).
If this succeeds then India will be the fourth country to land a mission on the moon. The US was first 50 years ago and then Russia and China. Israel got very close but crashed their lander.
SOURCES- Hindustan Times
Written by Alvin Wang