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Chandrayaan 2 launch latest update: Work not over, Chandrayaan-2 mission team will now work to land on South pole, says ISRO chairman K. Sivan. The payload has been successfully inserted into its transfer orbit and the lander is expected to touchdown on the original landing date of 7 September. ISRO is launching its highly awaited second mission to the Moon today at 2.43pm IST from a launchpad in Sriharikota. The original launch date was planned for 22 July but a technical snag was observed in the launch vehicle just 56 minutes before liftoff. There was a drop in pressure in the fuel tank and as a measure of abundant precaution, the
Chandrayaan 2
launch was called off. The problem has now been rectified and last we heard from ISRO the liquid core stage of the GSLV has been fully fueled for the planned launch this afternoon. It will liftoff aboard the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III M1 (GSLV MkIII M1) rocket today from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Chandrayaan 2 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan 1, which helped confirm the presence of water/hydroxyl on the Moon in 2009. The mission consists of an orbiter, a lander called Vikram and a rover called Pragyan. While the orbiter is tasked with mapping the lunar surface from an altitude of 100 kilometres, the Vikram lander will make a soft-landing on the surface and release the Pragyan rover on 7 September 2019,
according to ISRO
. The mission will go to a previously unexplored region just 650 kilometres from the lunar South Pole. This will be the first time any mission has touched down so far away from the equator. [caption id=“attachment_7033251” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]
Chandrayaan 2. image credit: ISRO[/caption] One of the primary objectives is to demonstrate the ability to soft-land on the lunar surface. Among the mission’s other scientific objectives are experiments to map the Moon’s surface, its mineral and element content, moonquakes and signatures of water-ice on the lunar surface.
Watch Chandrayaan-2 live stream here:
The mission will be streamed live on DD National’s YouTube channel and tech2’s Youtube and Facebook handle, made available 30 minutes before the launch window opens, at approximately 2.21 am IST on 22 July. Here are a select group of stories on the mission we’d recommend reading:
Chandrayaan 2: Here are answers to all your questions on India’s second Moon mission <span data-sheets-value="{" 1":2,“2”:“chandrayaan-2=”" to="" hunt="" for="" trillion-dollar-worth="" helium-3="" on="" moon’s="" surface"}"="" data-sheets-userformat="{" 2":21441,“3”:{“1”:0},“9”:0,“10”:1,“11”:4,“12”:0,“15”:“arial=”" narrow",“17”:1}"="">Chandrayaan 2 to hunt for trillion-dollar-worth Helium-3 on Moon’s surface <span data-sheets-value="{" 1":2,“2”:“an=”" intro="" to="" gslv-mkiii,="" the="" launch="" platform="" that="" will="" make="" chandrayaan-2="" and="" gaganyaan="" a="" reality"}"="" data-sheets-userformat="{" 2":21441,“3”:{“1”:0},“9”:0,“10”:1,“11”:4,“12”:0,“15”:“arial=”" narrow",“17”:1}"="">GSLV-MkIII, the launch platform that will make Chandrayaan-2 and Gaganyaan a reality <span 2="" data-sheets-value="{" 1":2,“2”:“chandrayaan=”" orbiter:="" everything="" you="" need="" to="" know="" about="" its="" objectives,="" science="" and="" design"}"="" data-sheets-userformat="{" 2":21441,“3”:{“1”:0},“9”:0,“10”:1,“11”:4,“12”:0,“15”:“arial=”" narrow",“17”:1}"="">Chandrayaan 2 Orbiter: Everything you need to know about its objectives, science and design <span 2="" data-sheets-value="{" 1":2,“2”:“vikram=”" lander:="" all="" you="" will="" need="" to="" know="" about="" the="" vessel="" carrying="" chandrayaan="" pragyan="" rover="" moon"}"="" data-sheets-userformat="{" 2":21441,“3”:{“1”:0},“9”:0,“10”:1,“11”:4,“12”:0,“15”:“arial=”" narrow",“17”:1}"="">Vikram Lander: All you will need to know about the vessel carrying Chandrayaan 2 Pragyan Rover to the Moon <span data-sheets-value="{" 1":2,“2”:“how=”" does="" isro’s="" gslv="" mk-iii="" fare="" against="" some="" of="" the="" world’s="" most="" powerful="" rockets?"}"="" data-sheets-userformat="{" 2":21441,“3”:{“1”:0},“9”:0,“10”:1,“11”:4,“12”:0,“15”:“arial=”" narrow",“17”:1}"="">How does ISRO’s GSLV Mk-III fare against some of the world’s most powerful rockets? <span 2="" data-sheets-value="{" 1":2,“2”:“chandrayaan=”" demonstrates="" india’s="" potential,="" but="" engineering="" education="" standards="" need="" improvement="" to="" sustain="" innovation"}"="" data-sheets-userformat="{" 2":21441,“3”:{“1”:0},“9”:0,“10”:1,“11”:4,“12”:0,“15”:“arial=”" narrow",“17”:1}"="">Chandrayaan 2 demonstrates India’s potential, but engineering education standards need improvement to sustain innovation <span data-sheets-value="{" 1":2,“2”:“india=”" plans="" to="" have="" a="" space="" station="" of="" its="" own="" by="" 2030:="" here’s="" what="" we="" can="" expect"}"="" data-sheets-userformat="{" 2":21441,“3”:{“1”:0},“9”:0,“10”:1,“11”:4,“12”:0,“15”:“arial=”" narrow",“17”:1}"="">India plans to have a space station of its own by 2030: Here’s what we can expect <span data-sheets-value="{" 1":2,“2”:“chandrayaan=”" 2:="" a="" brief="" history="" of="" every="" moonshot="" in="" the="" space="" exploration"}"="" data-sheets-userformat="{" 2":21441,“3”:{“1”:0},“9”:0,“10”:1,“11”:4,“12”:0,“15”:“arial=”" narrow",“17”:1}"="">A brief history of every moonshot in the history of space exploration