No. of views : (3893)
Decision taken to launch Chandrayan-2 on 22nd July
Posted on: 19/Jul/2019 2:49:51 PM
Subsequent to the rectification/repair of the technical problem, ISRO has decided to launch Chnadrayan-2 on 22nd July (Monday). This news was released yesterday (Thursday, 17th July).
With the main objective of research on the moon, the space vehicle Chandrayan-1 was sent through PSLV-C11 was launched on 22nd October 2008.
This space vehicle set foot on the moon’s surface and commenced doing 12 days; analytical data work. It also confirmed that there was water on the moon by spotting ice cubes on the moon’s surface drawing global attention and appreciation.
Chandrayan-1 found further that elements and minerals such as Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, etc are seen as layers formed on the surface of the moon.
So, subsequently, ISRO decided to launch Chandrayan-2 through the ultra-powerful GSLV- Mark-3 rocket which can carry a load of up to 4000 kg on 15th July.
As this launch is meant to undertake research by reaching the South Pole of the Moon, a project not undertaken by any country so far, and also the fact that ISRO scientists have undertaken the effort to land the space vehicle on moon’s surface, the Chandrayan-2 has drawn eager expectations not only from India but globally as well!
The countdown to launch the rocket was commenced at 6.51 AM on 14th July. Huge crowds had gathered to visibly seeing the launching of the rocket even during the middle of the night!
In this situation, when only 56 minutes and 24 seconds remained for the launch, the countdown was stopped all of a sudden. Immediately, it was announced through the speakers that due to some technical problems, the launching of the rocket has been cancelled temporarily.
After this announcement, within the next half-an-hour, it was further announced on behalf of ISRO that due to some technical problems developed in the rocket, the launch programme of Chandrayan is cancelled for the time being and the exact date of launching the rocket will be announced later.
However, the last-minute cancellation of the launch was a huge disappointment for all concerned including the visitors!
The main technical snag was the leakage of Helium in the rocket. If it was launched without repairing the leakage, there were risks that rocket may explode! As this leakage could not be taken up at the last moment, and more time was required for the same, the scientists had to take the precautionary action to cancel the launch! With this, a huge loss to have been incurred has been averted!
In the above scenario, subsequent to the completion of the repair work on the leakage, ISRSRO has come up with the announcement that the rocket will now be launched on Monday, 22nd July.
ISRO announcement
An expert committee was formed to attend the Helium leakage which was detected shortly before the scheduled launch! The expert team scrutinized and analysed the reasons for the leakage and after detecting the reason, they have now rectified it completely. The operations were checked and found ok!
So, it is announced that Chandrayan-2 is scheduled to be launched at 2,43 PM on Monday, 22nd July from the 2nd launching station located at the Satish Dhawan Space Research Centre.
