Author: Vijay Karthik

ISRO Calls Off Chandrayaan-2 Launch Due to Technical Snag

The space agency said it will announce a revised launch date soon.

Sriharikota: Less than an hour before lift off, India’s second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2 onboard GSLVMkIII-M1, was called off on Monday due to a technical snag, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

The countdown to the launch scheduled for 2:51 am was stopped 56 minutes and 24 seconds before lift off, at 1:55 am, following the announcement from the Mission Control Centre.

Confusion prevailed for several minutes before ISRO came out with an official confirmation about the launch being cancelled.

“A technical snag was observed in the launch vehicle system at t-minus 56 minutes. As a measure of abundant precaution Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off for today,” ISRO associate director (public relations), B.R. Guruprasad said.

“Revised launch date will be announced later,” he added.

Another ISRO official said: “Launch is called off due to technical snag. It is not possible to make the launch within the (launch) window. (A new) launch schedule will be announced later.”

The space agency had earlier scheduled the launch in the first week of January but shifted it to July 15.

The lift-off of the three-component spacecraft weighing 3,850 kg and comprising an orbiter, the lander and the rover was scheduled from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) here.

Also read | Chandrayaan 2: In Major Robotic Feat, ISRO Plans to Take India on Second Moon Trip

President Ram Nath Kovind was in Sriharikota to witness the launch.

The Chandrayaan-2 was supposed to explore the uncharted lunar south pole, 11 years after ISRO’s successful first lunar mission – Chandrayaan-1, which made more than 3,400 orbits around the moon and was operational for 312 days till August 29, 2009.

The Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 onboard the heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle GSLV-MkIII-M1, nicknamed Baahubali, would have taken 54 days to accomplish the task of landing on the Moon through meticulously planned orbital phases.

After a full dress rehearsal last week, the countdown for the mission commenced at 6:51 am on Sunday and scientists had undergone various stages of propellant filling to power the rocket ahead of the launch.

Billed as the most complex and prestigious mission ever undertaken by the ISRO since its inception, Chandrayaan-2 would make India the fourth country to soft land a rover on the lunar surface after Russia, the United States and China.

(PTI)

ISRO Launches Earth Observation Satellite RISAT-2B

ISRO chairman K. Sivan had earlier described this mission as a “very, very important” one for the country.

Sriharikota: In a pre-dawn launch on Wednesday, Indian space agency ISRO successfully launched Earth observation satellite RISAT-2B that will enhance the country’s surveillance capabilities.

As the 25-hour countdown which began on Tuesday concluded, the agency’s trusted workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C46) blasted off at 5:30 am from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here on its 48th mission, carrying the 615 kg satellite.

The RISAT-2B (Radar Imaging Satellite-2B), meant for application in fields such as surveillance, agriculture, forestry and disaster management support, was released into the orbit around 15 minutes after lift-off.

It will replace the RISAT-2, which was successfully launched in 2009.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Sivan had earlier described the mission as a “very, very important” one for the country.

“This is a very, very important mission for India. It is an excellent satellite with hi-fi earth observation (capabilities),” he had said.

The RISAT-2B is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar that can take pictures of Earth during the day and night, and also under cloudy conditions.

With a mission life of five years, the satellite will also be used for military surveillance, ISRO sources told PTI.

Also read | Chandrayaan 2 Set For Launch in July, Will Have 13 Payloads: ISRO

The RISAT-2 has reportedly been actively used by India to monitor activities in camps across the border in Pakistan to thwart infiltration bids.

The PSLV-C46 was the 14th flight of the PSLV in its core-alone configuration sans the use of the solid strap-on motors.

It was the 72nd launch vehicle mission from Sriharikota and also marked the 36th launch from the first launch pad.

Wednesday’s launch of the PSLV also marked the third launch in 2019.

The other two were the PSLV-C45/EMISAT mission, which successfully injected the EMISAT and 29 international customer satellites into their orbits on April 1, and the PSLV-C44, which successfully placed the Microsat-R and the Kalamsat-V2 satellites in designated orbits on January 24.

ISRO had launched RISAT-1, a microwave remote sensing satellite, on April 26, 2012 from Sriharikota.

(PTI)