Chandrayaan-2 will be launched at 2:43 pm on July 22, confirms ISRO

Chandrayaan-2 launch, which was called off due to a technical snag on July 15, 2019, is now rescheduled at 2:43 pm on July 22, The ISRO confirmed on Thursday. The space agency took to Twitter to make the announcement. The confirmation comes day after several media reports suggested that the ISRO was looking at the earliest possible window for the launch. Other reports had also said that the lunar mission will be launched in July itself. On Wednesday, a Times of India report had said that Chandrayaan-2 will be launched between July 21 and 22. The report says that the scientists are keen on launching the Chandrayaan-2 as early as possible and the weekend schedule might just be the date when India creates history in space. Chandrayaan-2 was halted after the technicians working on the lunar mission detected leak  in the GSLV-MkIII rocket's helium fuel component.

 

Chandrayaan-2 launch, which was called off due to a technical snag on July 15, 2019, is now rescheduled at 2:43 pm IST on Monday, July 22, 2019. #Chandrayaan2 #GSLVMkIII #ISRO

— ISRO (@isro) July 18, 2019

The launch of Chandrayaan-2 onboard GSLVMkIII-M1 was aborted on July 15 less than an hour before take-off by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) due to technical snag. The Chandrayaan-2, India's second Moon mission after Chandrayaan-1, was supposed to be deployed on the far side of the lunar surface.

It is to be noted that Chandrayaan-2 was all set to be launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 2:51 am with a rover that would land on the moon in about two months' time. However, the launch was stopped 56 minutes and 24 seconds before take-off at 1.55 am following the announcement from the Mission Control Centre.

Confusion prevailed for several minutes before ISRO came out with an official confirmation about the launch being cancelled. President Ram Nath Kovind was present at the space port for the mission.

In a statement, ISRO Associate Director (Public Relations), B R Guruprasad said, "A technical snag was observed in the launch vehicle system at t-minus 56 minutes. As a measure of abundant precaution Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off for today." "Revised launch date will be announced later," he added.

The historic Chandrayaan-2 mission was supposed target a completely unexplored section of the Moon that is, its “South Polar region - Aitken Basin”. By conducting topographical studies and mineralogical analyses alongside a few other experiments on the Moon’s Surface, the ISRO’s ambitious mission aimed to get a better understanding of the Moon’s origin and its evolution.

The mission was being considered as a challenge since no space agency has ever explored the South Polar Region of the Moon. Importantly, Chandrayaan-1 made more than 3,400 orbits around the moon and was operational for 312 days till August 29, 2009.

Chandrayaan-2 has three elements including the Rover, the Lander and the Orbiter. As soon as the spacecraft will land on the moon, the lander will separate from the Orbiter and then perform a series of complex manoeuvres comprising of tough braking and fine braking. The lander, named Vikram, will land near the Moon’s South Pole and then it will then carry out experiments on Lunar surface for 1 Lunar day. A single lunar day is equal to 14 Earth days. However. Orbiter will continue its mission for a duration of one year.