Chandrayaan-2 mission called off for today, technical snag observed: ISRO

In an anti-climax to the build-up around the historic moment, a keenly awaited launch of Chandrayaan-2 had to be aborted about an hour before the scheduled launch time due to a technical snag in the launch vehicle system.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the technical snag was observed 56 minutes before the scheduled time, sourcing it to stop the countdown and then put the launch off for “today”.

“A new launch date will be announced later,” ISRO added. It was not clear, how soon the new launch date could be.

A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at 1 hour before the launch. As a measure of abundant precaution, #Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later.

— ISRO (@isro) July 14, 2019

ISRO officials indicated that it could take up to a few days to asses how serious the glitch was, that could rule out another attempt at the launch in the current window of opportunity that was available only till July 16.

The glitch was found in the launch vehicle GSLV MKIII which is the strongest of orbit built by ISRO, and not in Chandrayaan-2 composite module. Before the countdown was stopped, ISRO’s last update about the mission said that it had completed fueling of liquid hydrogen into the rocket.

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Chandrayaan-2 was supposed to be ISRO’s first attempt to make a soft landing on the surface of the moon. Today’s mission was to follow the successful maiden Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-1 launched in 2008. The rocket (Chandrayaan-1) which made more than 3,400 orbits around the moon, was operational for 312 days till August 29,2009.

After a full dress rehearsal last week, the countdown for the mission commenced at 6.51 am on Sunday and scientists underwent various stages of propellant filling to power the rocket ahead of the launch.