India’s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 aimed at landing arover on unchartered Lunar South Pole was launched Monday onboard the country’smost powerful geosynchronous launch vehicle from the spacesport here Monday.
The three-stage rocket GSLV-MkIII-M1 blasted off from theSatish Dhawan Space Centre here at 2.43 p.m amid cloudy skies, a week after theearlier launch was called off on July 15 following a technical snag observedduring the propellant filling stage.
It will inject the 3,850-kg Chandrayaan-2 into Earth orbit,about 16 minutes later, marking the first phase of the ambitious mission thatwill take about 48 days to land on the moon surface.
The three-component Chandrayaan-2 comprising an orbiter, alander and a rover will undergo 15 crucial manoeuvres before landing on themoon, expected by the first week of September, Indian Space ResearchOrganisation said.
Earlier, a 20-hour countdown for the launch started at 6.43pm Sunday after ISRO scientists rectified the glitch that prompted them to calloff the earlier launch.
Billed as the most complex and prestigious missionundertaken by ISRO since its inception, Chandrayaan-2 will make India thefourth country to soft land a rover on the lunar surface after Russia, theUnited States and China.