Chandrayaan-2 Launch Date & Time: India Will Finally Lift off Its Moon Mission Next Week

Chandrayaan-2 is India's second lunar mission after Chandrayaan-1 which was developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation commonly known as ISRO. India will be the fourth country after the US, Russia and China for soft-landing on the moon. The mission is planned to  be launched to the Moon by a Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III) which includes a lunar orbiter, lander and rover - all developed domestically. The main scientific objective of this mission is to map the location and abundance of lunar water. Launch of Chandrayaan-2 was scheduled for 15 July 2019 2:51 IST  but due to a technical defect on the launcher, it was cancelled 56 minutes 24 seconds before launch and postponed to July 22, 2019.

Where will Chandrayaan-2 land?

Chandrayaan-2 will try to soft land a lander (vikram) and rover (Pragyan) in a high plain between two craters i.e. Manzinus C and Simpelius N, which are at latitude of about 70° south. The wheeled rover will move on the lunar surface and will perform various chemical analyses. It can transfer data to Earth through the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and lander, which will fly on the same launch day.

Why mission was aborted?

Earlier, Chandrayaan-2 was planned to be launched on 15th July 2019, but due to some technical fault on the launcher, the mission was aborted 56 minutes 24 seconds before its launch this Monday. The space agency said that the reason for the delay was taken as a measure of abundant precaution. A senior Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) expert told that if the problem would not have been rectified earlier, Chandrayaan 2 would have been a total failure.

When will ISRO launch Chandrayaan 2? 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted on July 18 morning that Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on July 22 at 2.43 p.m and launch site is Satish Dhawan Space Centre and Rocket is GSLV Mk III

Budget

K Sivan( ISRO chairman ) has called Chandrayaan-2 the "most complex mission ever undertaken by ISRO".

It is Rs. 1,000 crore Chandrayaan 2 moon mission, which is 20 times less than USA's NASA.

When will it land?

India is hoping to be the first country to land at the lunar South Pole. The landing has been planned for 6th of September 2019, or the next day, which is almost a month after the spacecraft nears the Moon and starts orbiting it. The spacecraft is designed to go around Earth for 17 days in increasingly bigger loops, in that process it will make the use of Earth’s gravity to build up power and saves some fuel, which will be highly efficient.

A successful Landing will make India fourth country to achieve Soft landing on moon.