ISRO Delays Historic Chandrayaan-2 Moon Mission Due to Technical Snag
India's space agency calls off the highly anticipated Chandrayaan-2 lunar launch just 56 minutes before liftoff due to an unspecified technical issue. The mission aims to make history as the first-ever soft landing at the Moon's south pole.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) abruptly halts the countdown for its historic Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission just 56 minutes before the scheduled liftoff due to a technical snag. The agency announces that it will provide an updated launch schedule at a later time. The ambitious mission aims to send a rover to the Moon's south pole to study the celestial body's origin and composition.
Chandrayaan-2 carries the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover, which target a landing site between two craters at the lunar south pole. ISRO uses its most powerful rocket to date, the GSLV Mk-III, to propel the spacecraft toward the Moon. Once in orbit, the accompanying orbiter relays data from the surface modules back to Earth while conducting its own year-long observations of the lunar topography, mineral makeup, and chemical properties.
This mission represents a monumental milestone for India's space program as it attempts the first-ever soft landing at the Moon's south pole using entirely home-grown technology. A successful landing makes India the fourth country in history to achieve a soft lunar touchdown, surpassing the controlled crash landing method used in the previous 2008 Chandrayaan-1 mission. The spacecraft originally plans to reach the lunar surface and deploy the rover on September 6, 2019.