Chandrayaan-2 mission called off in the last minute: ISRO cites technical glitch

The much talked about Chandrayaan-2 mission which was scheduled to launch on Monday, has been called off for the day by ISRO. As stated by the organization, the launch vehicle system was found with a technical glitch.

A statement tweeted by ISRO reads, “A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system... As a measure of abundant precaution, Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off for today. A revised launch date will be announced later.”

Notably, the Chandrayaan-2 mission is being regarded as one of the most ambitious second Lunar mission and was scheduled to take off at around 2 am on Monday. But it was noticed that the Chandrayaan 2 suffered a jolt in the early hours of July 15 following a certain technical problem, the space research organization considered it better to call off the launch for the time being.

With the launch of this lunar probe, ISRO targets to cover the South Pole of the moon. It is this region of the moon which has not been touched by any country before. Although the revised launch date is not named yet but an announcement will be made later. Notably, as per the previous schedule of the launch, President Ram Nath Kovind had flown into Sriharikota to become a part of the historic launch.

As the countdown for the launch had started, the countdown timer suddenly stopped with 56.24 minutes to go for the lift-off. This was followed by an announcement made by the Mission Control, “It is not possible to make the launch within the launch window. A new schedule will be announced later.”

The launch window of ISRO ends on July 16. As the launch of Chandrayaan 2 was seen with multiple setbacks for which ISRO has been missing several deadlines since 2018. Previously, the lunar probe was scheduled to be launched in a window between January and mid-February but was put off.

Also read: Chandrayaan-2 Mission Will Go Where No Country Has Ever Gone Before