Chandrayaan in final lunar orbit: ISRO

India's first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 reached its final orbit, 100 km above from the lunar surface, says ISRO, reports BR Srikanth. India's moon mission.

Chandrayaan-I, India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft, was delicately lowered into its niche in space — 102 km from moon — on Wednesday evening, marking the completion of its journey to the earth's nearest astral neighbour.

At 6.33 pm, the orbiter was moved to a perfect circular trajectory of 102 km above the lunarscape.

"It has reached home, and now raring to go about its task (information on the chemical and geological composition of lunar soil and traces of water). Chandrayaan's journey to the moon is complete," Dr M. Annadurai, project director, told HT.

"It is a perfect mission in every sense. It is on dot," Indian Space Research Organisation chairman Dr G. Madhavan Nair said. The most challenging part was to put it in the right orbit, he said. It was a matter of time when it would be declared operational. The instruments would be switched on one by one and the process would be completed in a month's time, he said. "In all probability, the Moon Impact Probe will be released the day after tomorrow (November 14)," he added.