Chandrayaan 2 Moon Mission Aborted due to 'Technical Snag'

New Delhi, July 15, 2019:

India’s ambitious moon mission Chandrayaan-2, destined for the uncharted South Pole of Earth, has been put on hold less than an hour before take off, following a technical glitch.

Sources said the "technical snag" was in the cryogenic stage of the rocket. A cryogenic rocket stage provides more thrust for every kilogram of propellant it burns. ISRO had announced one hour before launch that the filling of liquid hydrogen fuel had been completed.

Chandrayaan-2 is India’s first attempt at a surface landing on the moon - a feat achieved by only Russia, the US and China. If successful, it would also be the first mission to conduct a surface landing on the little-explored lunar south pole region, where scientists hope to collect information about the moon’s mineral and chemical composition, and search for water.

The 3.8-tonne Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft comprising an orbiter, the lander and the rover will now lift off on the 640-tonne GSLV Mark III (nicknamed "Baahubali"), India's most powerful rocket that's as TALL as a 15-storey building, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on another date. This was going to be the Mark III's third launch.

If India's moon landing is successful, it will become the fourth country to soft-land a spacecraft on the lunar surface joining the elite club alongside US, Russia and China. Israel had tried earlier this year to do so but failed.

All the equipment involved in the Chandrayaan 2 mission have been designed and manufactured in India. It is the sequel to the successful Chandrayaan 1, which helped confirm the presence of water on the moon in 2009.

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