India’s second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, is scheduled to be launched at 2.43 pm on July 22 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, the Indian Space Research Organisation announced on Thursday. The mission was originally scheduled to take off on Monday but was called off due to a technical snag.
“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,” the Indian Space Research Organisation said in a tweet on Thursday.
The technical snag was observed in the launch vehicle system an hour before the launch on July 15. It had said that a revised date will be announced later. There were four suitable window periods for the launch of Chandrayaan-2 in July – July 15, July 16, July 29 and July 30. If the mission is not launched in July, the next window is in September.
Chandrayaan-2 would attempt to place a robotic rover on the lunar surface. If the mission is successful, India would become the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon after the United States, Russia, and China.
The mission life of the orbiter is one year and the rover’s expected life is 14 Earth days. Chandrayaan-2 will have 14 Indian payloads that will study topography, seismography, and mineral identification, among other things.
ISRO’s most powerful rocket launcher, GSLV Mk III, will be used to carry the 3.8-tonne Chandrayaan-2 into orbit. The spacecraft is projected to head towards the South Pole of the moon for a soft landing after travelling for nearly two months.
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