India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 has been launched successfully and ed in a preparatory orbit around the earth just a short while ago. 

The powerful booster GSLV-Mark-Three carrying Chandrayaan-2 on-board zoomed into space at 14.43 hours by puffing out thick smoke and leaving trailblazers amidst thundering sound from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. 

In just 16 minutes into the sky, it ed the high-stake lunar probe into the designated highly elliptical orbit.

From the earth-bound orbit, Chandrayaan-2 will be navigated by the ISRO scientists to near the South Pole of the moon, which is an unexplored area as yet. It will be the first soft-landing of a probe by India, that is expected to be on 7th September. India would become the fourth ever nation to have a soft-landing on the moon, once Chandrayaan-2 reaches there.  

Originally Chandrayaan-2 was scheduled to be launched on 15th July, but had to be rescheduled after a leakage in the cryogenic upper stage of the rocket GSLV-Mark-Three had been observed. 

However, the loss of seven days due to the rescheduling is being compensated by the ISRO by way of tweaking the flight path of the probe. ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan said the scientists would perform fifteen crucial manoeuvres to navigate it to achieve the feat.

The mission objectives of India’s second expedition to the moon using Chandrayaan-2 include studying mineralogy and chemical composition of lunar soil, to search for water or ice in the near-South Pole of the moon, examining its atmosphere, studying lunar seismic activities and to carry out mapping of the moon using high-resolution cameras.

The Hindu