Closer to moon, ‘Vikram’ separates from Chandrayaan 2 orbiter

 "The health of the orbiter and lander is being monitored from the Mission Operations Complex. All the systems of Chandrayaan 2 orbiter and lander are healthy," ISRO tweeted on Monday after the successful separation of the advanced moon lander  'Vikram'  from India's moonshot Chandrayaan 2 orbiter. The separation was scheduled between 12:45 PM and 1:45 PM (IST) on Monday.

#ISRO
Vikram Lander Successfully separates from #Chandrayaan2 Orbiter today (September 02, 2019) at 1315 hrs IST.

For details please visit https://t.co/mSgp79R8YP pic.twitter.com/jP7kIwuZxH

— ISRO (@isro) September 2, 2019

Lander 'Vikram' will reach lunar surface on September 7. Thisorbiter will study about the exosphere (outer atmosphere) and will conductsurface and surface science experiments on the Moon. Theorbiter is carrying  a rover 'Pragyan'which will carry out experiments on the lunar soil.

Chandrayaan 2 had lifted off from the spaceportat Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on July 22 in the second attempt successfully.The lift-off was aborted in the first attempt due to some technical glitch.