India's Chandrayaan-2 Mission launch postponed to October, says ISRO Chief

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India's Moon Mission: Chandrayaan-2 launch postponed to October for more additional tests, says ISRO Chief
India's Moon Mission: Chandrayaan-2 launch postponed to October for more additional tests, says ISRO Chief

New Delhi : India’s most awaited space mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2 to be launched this April has been postponed. A recent report has confirmed that additional tests need to be performed before ISRO allows for its launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India.

Chandrayaan-2 is believed to be more difficult than its predecessor Chandrayaan-1. Unlike the previously used PSLV launcher, the upcoming moon mission will be launched from heavy-payload GSLV MkII launcher which will lift off the 3,290 kg spacecraft on its mission to the moon with a journey time spanning over a moon. It is likely to cover a distance of 3,82,000 Km from Earth to the Moon so as to execute its pre-programmed functions.

During a recent interview conducted, the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), K. Sivan disclosed the news of a delay in the launch of Chandrayaan-2 mission. He further pointed that additional tests will be conducted at the satellite center before organisation gives green signal for its launch in October 2018.

ISRO report says, Chandrayaan-2 is a total original mission since all the machinery of the spacecraft that includes orbiter, lander, and its 6-wheeled rover are manufactured in India with the help of 100-odd scientists who are presently working on the spacecraft for a few months now. 

Chandrayaan-2 is India's second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan-1. It is considered as more powerful spacecraft than NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon. Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State at Prime Minister’s office mentioned that the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 will increase the reliability of India in space exploration work as well as it will create its competitiveness. 

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According to media reports "the total cost of Chandrayaan-2 is around 800 crores which look expensive but actually it is a lot cheaper when compared with Christopher Nolan’s movie Interstellar starring Matthew McConaughey that was constructed on a budget of 1,062 crores".  Well, it’s not the first time that ISRO is managing to reach such an increased budget.

When ISRO launched its Mangalyaan to the red planet Mars, its budget was estimated at $73 million which is cheaper than 2017 sci-fi movie Gravity starring Sandra Bullock where its budget clocked at over $100 million.

ISRO scientists said that Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft will be active on the surface of the moon for 14 days. Once it reaches the orbit of the moon, the lander will detach from the orbiter and then, it will make a safe landing on the unexplored South Pole.

Once it lands safely, the 6-wheeled rover will be installed which has an array of 13 state-of-the-art scientific instruments competent of doing scientific experiments as per its manifest.

On March 21, Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that Chandrayaan-2 is postponed to be launch in October 2018. Sources confirmed that ISRO will live telecast the launch across the globe since it is a global event.