Collision risk between NASA’s LRO and the Indian rover on the lunar pole. An “evasive” maneuver carried out »Science News

The official announcement of the Indian Space Agency.

Perilous close encounter between Sunda Indiana Chandrayaan 2 and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). This was announced by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in a statement published on Monday highlighting how to force the Indian aircraft to perform an “evasive” maneuver. to avoid impact Which could have produced a large amount of debris and of course a huge economic loss for both agencies. Experts pointed out that the distance between two spacecraft orbiting the Moon, less than 100 meters, is risky. “Both agencies – Isro said in a statement – The situation was considered to justify a collision avoidance maneuver to mitigate the dangers of close approach, and it was mutually agreed that the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter would undergo the maneuver.“.

Both Chandrayaan-2 and NASA’s LRO orbit the Moon in a near-pole orbit, thus both spacecraft are approaching each other at the lunar poles. “It is common for satellites in Earth orbit to undergo collision avoidance maneuvers in order to Mitigating the risk of impact Due to the presence of space objects, debris and operational vehicles. However, this is the first time such a tight coupling has occurred in an ISRO space exploration mission, requiring an evasive maneuver.Agency concluded.