Chandrayaan 2 launch updates: ISRO calls off launch due to snag; revised date to be announced later

Updates from ISRO's Chandrayaan 2 mission: India’s second unmanned mission to moon -- Chandrayaan 2 -- was set to take off on 15 July from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 2.51 am. Less than an hour to launch, a technical snag was observed in the launch vehicle system and ISRO called off the launch as a measure of abundant precaution

Officials at the ISRO must be heartbroken. A lot of effort and hard work has gone into the launch, but unfortunately today isn't just the right day for ISRO. The space agency called off the launch just 56 minutes before the scheduled launch time.

That's all for now readers, thanks for staying tuned. Do visit www.deccanherald.comlaterto check out what ISRO has to say.

Wait for sometime for the announcement, saysGuru Prasad, ISRO PRO

Chandrayaan 2 launch put on hold

BREAKING: Chandrayaan 2 launch called off due to technical snag.

— Rasheed Kappan (@kappansky) July 14, 2019

Video: ISRO simplifies entire Chandrayaan 2 Mission

Why haven’t people been to the moon again?

After 1972, the Superpowers and the world lost interest in the moon, whereas it should have only grown. The lull continued for five decades. Still, the handful of robotic missions to our cosmic neighbour have revealed valuable insights: a geological potential that can be harnessed; proximity that offers scope for a space stopover, and a perfect spot for unhindered astronomical observations. So, despite a wealth of opportunities, why haven’t more people been to the moon?

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Hope, ambition soar at Sriharikota

Navigating large distances accurately, preventing damage due to ‘lunar’ dust, conducting Trans Lunar Injection and the soft-landing pose huge risks for Chandrayaan 2's Vikram. But if it succeeds, India will emerge as the fourth nation to accomplish the soft-landing mission after the United States, Russia and China.

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"ISRO is now embarking on one of the most complex missions since its inception - that of launching Chandrayaan 2", says K Kasturirangan, former Chairman of ISRO.

Chandrayaan 2 Orbiter

Take a glimpse of Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter in clean room. It carries 8 scientific payloads for mapping lunar surface and to study moon's atmosphere

Chandrayaan 2: Behind the scenes footage

Industry partnership and space research progress

What role does industry partnership play in the progress of space research? Listen to ISRO Chairman K Sivan's message to find out.

Filling of Liquid oxygen in cryogenic stage of GSLV Mk III- M1 completed and filling of Liquid Hydrogen is in progress, says ISRO.

Moon landing sites

Chandrayaan 2 to take off with India’s most powerful rocket launcher -- GSLV Mk III

Almost the entire Chandrayaan-2's orbiter, lander and rover have been designed and made in India.

India’s most powerful rocket launcher GSLV Mk III will carry the 2.4 tonne orbiter.

The spacecraft will carry the 1.4 tonne lander Vikram -- which in turn will take the 27-kg rover Pragyan -- to a high plain between two craters on the lunar South Pole.

Chandrayaan 2: The cost involved

India has spent about $144 million to get Chandrayaan-2 ready for the 384,400-km trip to the landing spot on the lunar South Pole on September 6.

In comparison, the US has spent about $25 billion on 15 Apollo missions, including the six that put Armstrong and other astronauts on the moon. China, which landed its Chang'e 4 lunar craft in January, spent $8.4 billion on its entire space programme in 2017, according to international Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development figures.

Meanwhile, Russia -- the first country to land an unmanned moon rocket in 1966 -- spent over $20 billion at today's values on lunar missions in the 1960s and 70s.

Chandrayaan 2 objective

The solar-powered rover can travel up to 500 metres and is expected to work for one lunar day, the equivalent of 14 Earth days.

ISRO chief K Sivan said Vikram's 15-minute final descent "will be the most terrifying moments as we have never undertaken such a complex mission". Sivan said the probe will be looking for signs of water and "a fossil record of the early solar system".

Amitabha Ghosh, a scientist for NASA's Rover mission to Mars, said the benefits of Chandrayaan-2 are huge, compared to its cost. "A spacecraft mission of the complexity of Chandrayaan-2 conveys a message that India is capable of delivering on difficult technology development endeavours," said Ghosh.

Chandrayaan 2 launch: What it means for India

India’s set to become the fourth country to join space race by launching a low-cost mission to land a probe on the moon.

The Chandrayaan 2 will blast off from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, a tropical island off Andhra Pradesh coast, after a 10-year-long build-up. The mission will showcase mankind’s progress in space travel since Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 mission.

ISRO Chandrayaan 2: Chandrayaan-2's orbiter, lander and rover have been designed and made in India, and it will use its most powerful rocket launcher, GSLV Mk III, to carry the 2.4 tonne orbiter. With Chandrayaan-2, India will continue its search for water on the lunar surface after Chandrayaan-1 in 2009 made the breakthrough of discovering the presence of water molecules on the Moon's surface.