The Indian space agency has reportedly fixed the glitch in its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III) whose Monday flight with Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was called off one hour before its lift off. However, ISRO is yet to officially confirm the same. A fresh report reveals that the glitch has been rectified, as per officials of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
“Couple of dates are being looked at for the rocket’s launch. It could be between July 20-23,” an official told IANS preferring anonymity. In case you don’t know, the rocket was supposed to lift off at 2:51AM on Monday with India’s second moon mission spacecraft. But, just one hour before the launch, a few officials detected a technical snag and called off the mission.
“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. A revised launch date will be announced later,” ISRO informed on Twitter.
Later ISRO tweeted that the “process will take 10 days after that only we can decide on the launch schedule.” As mentioned above, the GSLV rocket launch was called off just one hour before the official launch. Talking about the rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III, it is about 44metre tall. It is reportedly called ‘Bahubali’. Furthermore, the cited source reported that the rocket will carry 3.8tonne Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft.
Furthermore, Chandrayaan-2 is a Rs 978 crore mission, which will make India the fourth country in the world to land and ride on the moon. In case you are not aware, Russia, the US and China are the first three nations that achieved this feat. Moreover, India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft comprises of three segments. This includes an Orbiter (weighing 2,379kg, eight payloads), a lander-Vikram (1,471 kg, four payloads). The third one is rover Pragyan (27 kg, two payloads).
– With inputs from IANS
