Bangalore. India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft had rehearsed to avoid a collision with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). This information was given by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter (CH2O) and NASA’s LRO were expected to come very close to the Lunar North Pole on October 20 this year at 11:15 am Indian time. ISRO office in Bangalore gave this information in a statement.
An analysis by both ISRO and JPL/NASA over the period of one week prior to the possible collision found that the radial separation between the two spacecraft was less than 100 metres. The two agencies felt that a ‘collision avoidance exercise’ (CAM) was needed to reduce the risk of the two spacecraft coming close in such a situation and mutually agreed to do so. According to ISRO, this exercise was done on 18 October.
The post-rehearsal data confirms that there will be no further confrontation with LRO in the near future. CAM procedures are common to reduce the risk of collisions in satellites in Earth’s orbit.
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