Chandrayaan-1, the spacecraft launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on October 22, has successfully performed the orbit-raising maneuver that set it on track for the Moon, a week after it managed, upon testing its main camera (Terrain Mapping Camera), to send its first pictures back to Earth. This was the last of the five maneuvers that adjusted the trajectory of the spacecraft, as the engine had been turned on for about two minutes and a half.

Chandrayaan-1 is set to enter the lunar orbit in about two days, according to the Indian space agency officials. As they announced, “Chandrayaan-1 will approach the moon on November 8, 2008, and the spacecraft's liquid engine will be fired again to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit,” adding that all the systems aboard the 1,380-kilogram (3,042-pound) craft are functioning as expected. The first image provided by the Terrain Mapping Camera showed the northern part of the Australian continent, and was sent on October 29, at 8:00am, Indian time, from an altitude of 9,000 km (nearly 5,600 miles).

The second arrived from about 70,000 km above the Earth (43,500 miles) at approximately 12:30pm, depicted the southern regions of Australia, and was snapped by one of the 11 instruments the probe was equipped with. Once Chandrayaan-1 finishes its 380,000-km (236,120-mile) long trek to our natural satellite and installs on its orbit, the TMC will be ready to map the Moon at a ground resolution of five meters (about 16.5 feet). The $87 million craft will also release a small impact probe weighing only 29 kilograms (64 pounds), which will hit the lunar surface.

The first Indian spacecraft will not be alone in its cruise around the Moon. It will, instead, accompany the Japanese orbiter Kaguya and the Chinese probe Chang'e 1, both launched last year. If all goes well, the three devices will also be joined soon afterwards by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that NASA plans to launch in the spring of 2009.