Chandrayaan anniversary: It has been a year and 4400 orbits of India's second lunar mission Chandrayaan 2 around the moon. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that all the instruments of Chandrayaan 2 are currently performing well and there is adequate onboard fuel to keep it operational for about seven more years.

The agency said that though the soft-landing of the Lander was unsuccessful, the orbiter has completed 4400 orbits around the moon and all eight on-board instruments are performing well.

Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019, and inserted into the lunar orbit on August 20, exactly one year ago.

Chandrayaan 2 attempted a moon-landing on September 7. However, the much-anticipated landing happened to end up in a crash landing, after ISRO lost contact with the Vikram lander, barely at an altitude of 2.1 km from the lunar surface. This mission was launched with the objectives of obtaining detailed information on the topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics, and the lunar exosphere.

"Though the soft-landing attempt (of the lander carrying the rover) was not successful, the orbiter, which was equipped with eight scientific instruments, was successfully placed in the lunar orbit. The orbiter completed more than 4,400 orbits around the Moon and all the instruments are currently performing well," the Indian Space Research Organisation said.

The Indian space agency has said that the spacecraft is healthy and the performance of its subsystems is normal. The orbiter is being maintained in 100+/-25 km polar orbit (circling the moon along the poles) with periodic orbit maintenance (OM) manoeuvres. When any satellite or spacecraft is in space in a certain orbit it swings wildly on a certain plane and moves a few hundred metres or even a few kilometres away from the intended path. That's when commands are issued to fire its on-board liquid-fuelled Motors to steer it back on course.

On December 2, 2019, US space agency NASA found the crash site and debris of  Vikram moon lander. NASA had also tweeted the images clicked by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that show the site of impact and the associated debris field.

India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 is credited with finding the extensive presence of surface water and the indication of sub-surface polar water-ice deposits. ISRO is also working on Chandrayaan 3, the country's third moon probe, and it is expected to be launched sometime in 2021 or later.