In a perfect lift-off, India's ISRO launches historic Chandrayaan 2 lunar mission

After an aborted launch on July 15 owing to technical snags, the launch took place at 2.43 pm on Monday (July 22).

The lift-off was perfect, said ISRO scientists as they sat in the control room and applauded watching the lift-off as the spacecraft hurtled towards the outer atmosphere, propelled by the 640-tonne rocket, named Baahubali.

Chandrayaan-2 is carrying an Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan). They took to skies from the SHAR Range at Sriharikota, commencing its 3.844 lakh km, month-long journey for a soft landing on the Moon's South Pole.

ISRO chief K Sivan announced soon that the rocket has "successfully injected Chandraayan 2 in the orbit." "ISRO bounced back with flying colours," Sivan said on the delay in the launch after on July 15 a technical snag aborted the much awaited launch.

President calls it a 'proud moment':

President Ram Nath Koving was one of the first persons to react to the occurance of the scentific landmark and described it as a 'proud moment' for all Indians.

The official Twitter handle of the President said: "The historic launch of #Chandrayaan2 from Sriharikota is a proud moment for all Indians. Congratulations to our scientists and engineers for furthering India's indigenous space programme. May @ISRO continue to master new technologies, and continue to conquer new frontiers."

"#Chandrayaan2 will be the first spacecraft to land close to the moon’s South Pole in some 50 days from now. The mission is expected to lead to new discoveries and enrich our knowledge systems. I wish the Chandrayaan-2 team every success #PresidentKovind," he said.

Indian PM Narendra Modi describes Chandrayaan 2 as 'unique':

"Indian at heart, Indian in spirit! What would make every Indian overjoyed is the fact that #Chandrayaan2 is a fully indigenous mission. It will have an Orbiter for remote sensing the Moon and also a Lander-Rover module for analysis of lunar surface," Modi tweeted.

He said: "#Chandrayaan2 is unique because it will explore and perform studies on the south pole region of lunar terrain which is not explored and sampled by any past mission. This mission will offer new knowledge about the Moon."

The Indian PM said: "Efforts such as #Chandrayaan2 will further encourage our bright youngsters towards science, top quality research and innovation. Thanks to Chandrayaan, India’s Lunar Programme will get a substantial boost. Our existing knowledge of the Moon will be significantly enhanced."

Why the Mission is significant:

The moon mission of India assumes significance since it will explore a region in the moon that has been shown to contain water ice.  Chandrayaan 2's success will make India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to perform a soft landing on the moon. ISRO said they improved the performance of the rocket by 15 percent.

The launch was earlier scheduled on July 15, but was deferred an hour before the take-off due to a technical snag in the launch vehicle.

"A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at one hour before the launch. As a measure of abundant precaution Chandrayaan-2 launch has been called off for today," it was announced by ISRO then.

On July 18, ISRO announced that the expert committee identified the root cause of the technical snag and all corrective actions were implemented.

Weighing 3,850 kg, the launch of Chandrayaan-2, took place from the Second Launch Pad  when the 43.43m tall heaviest homegrown rocket, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV MkIII-M1), capable of launching 4-ton class of satellites to the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), lifted off from the spaceport.

According to American website CNET, all three of ISRO's robotic explorers have different lifespans and will be looking to achieve key science goals in their limited time exploring the moon.

"Chief among these goals is the ability to understand the composition of the moon, allowing for a deeper understanding of its origin and its evolution. There are 12 payloads on board, with five on both the orbiter and lander and two on the rover. The lander will only operate for a single lunar day (two weeks on Earth). NASA is also hitching a ride on the lunar lander with a laser retroreflector, a device that can help measure the distance between the Earth and Moon," it reported. The orbiter will operate for a year in a circular orbit around the poles and carries radar and spectrometers that will enable study of the moon's surface and exosphere, it reported.

"Predominantly, these instruments should enable a greater understanding of the moon's water ice deposits. A mapping camera will also provide a 3D map of the terrain," it said.

It is raining congratulations for ISRO:

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted: "Congratulations on #Chandrayaan2. Compliments to the entire team."

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said: "Congratulations to ISRO scientists on flawless launching of #Chandrayaan2 from SriharikotaTeam ISRO scripted a new chapter in India’s space history with the launch of this ambitious and indigenous Mission to Moon.The nation is extremely proud of its scientists and Team ISRO."

 

The Congress tweeted: "Congratulations Team @isro for the successful launch of #Chandryaan2."