Chang'E 2 update: in orbit and returning data

Posted By Emily Lakdawalla

2010/10/08 11:34 CDT

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From Yong-Chun Zheng at National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences have come several updates on the status of China's second lunar orbiter, Chang'E 2. Chang'E 2 launched successfully on October 1 at 10:59:57 UTC. It launched on a direct transfer trajectory to the Moon, and successfully entered orbit on October 6 at 03:40. That orbit insertion maneuver put Chang'E 2 into an 12-hour orbit with a perilune of 100 kilometers and an apolune of 8,000 kilometers. Another maneuver on October 8 at 02:45 put Chang'E 2 into its 3.5-hour nominal science orbit 100 kilometers above the lunar surface. By October 5, Chang'E 2 was returning science data to Earth.