ISRO Chandrayaan-2 Launch Live: India’s Second Moon Mission Launched Successfully

Aiming to take a "billion dreams" to the moon, India Monday successfully launched its second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 onboard its powerful rocket GSLV-MkIII-M1 from the spaceport here to explore the unchartered south pole of the celestial body by landing a rover.

The geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle lifted-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here into cloudy skies at 2.43 pm and successfully placed the 3,850-kg Chandrayaan-2 into the earth orbit about 16 minutes later.

The mission's success brought in huge relief for ISRO scientists after the July 15 launch was called off just about an hour left following a technical glitch in the rocket.

The Rs 978 crore mission, that will mark a giant leap in India's space research and make it only the fourth country to have landed a rover on Moon, was rescheduled to Monday after scientists corrected the technical glitch in the three-stage rocket.

In a textbook launch, the towering GSLV-MkIII-M1 lifted off majestically from the second launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, over 100 km from Chennai, as the Indian Space Research Organisation scientists broke into jubilation.

Scientists led by ISRO chief K Sivan watched the launch sequence in rapt attention and broke into applause after every key stage of the rocket's flight which progressed precisely as programmed.

A visibly relieved Sivan, who announced the success of the mission, said "it is the beginning of a historical journey of India towards the moon."

"We bounced back in flying colours after the earlier technical snag," he said about the glitch that made the space agency reschedule the Chandrayaan-2 launch from July 15 to Monday.

Chandrayaan-2 comes 11 years after ISRO's successful first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 which scripted history by making more than 3,400 orbits around the Moon and was operational for 312 days till Aug. 29, 2009.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the ISRO team, in a tweet, marking “special moments that will be etched int he annals of our glorious history.”

“The launch of #Chandrayaan2 illustrates the prowess of our scientists and the determination of 130 crore Indians to scale new frontiers of science. Every Indian is immensely proud today!”

ISRO Director Kailasavadivoo Sivan announced the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-2 vehicle today, thanking the team of engineers, technicians, supporting staff and everyone else involved for working continuously, especially after the snag last week.

While congratulating the lift-off team, he said the mantle has been passed on to the mission team.

The Chandrayaan-2 mission team will have to do 15 “very crucial maneuvers” in next 1.5 months, finally bringing Chanrayaan-2 around the moon into place. Team ISRO will experience 15-minutes terror on D-Day to ensure landing in the right spot near the moon's South Pole, he added.

After lift-off, the 3,850 kg Chandrayaan-2, comprising an orbiter, lander and rover, will undergo 15 crucial manoeuvres before landing on the Moon, expected by the first week of September, ISRO has said earlier.

About 16:20 minutes after the lift-off, the GSLV rocket is expected to inject Chandrayan-2 into 170 km x 39059 kms Earth orbit.

Then gradually over the next few days it will be brought to 100 X 100 km circular orbit around the moon when the lander will separate and after another few days of orbiting it will make a soft landing at a chosen place on the Lunar surface.

On the day of landing, the lander will perform a series of complex maneuvers comprising of rough braking and fine braking to land near the south pole of the moon on Sep. 7, 2019, according to ISRO.

Subsequently, Rover will roll out and carry out experiments on Lunar surface for a period of 1 Lunar day which is equal to 14 Earth days. The orbiter will continue its mission for a duration of one year.

Source: ISRO, PTI

India's rocket carrying the moon lander and moon rover achieved lift off.