Nellore: The countdown commenced at 6.43 pm on Sunday for the launch of the Chandrayaan-2 mission from the spaceport at Sriharikota, Nellore district. The mission is scheduled to take off on a GSLV-Mk III rocket at 2.43 pm on Monday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Sources said a launch rehearsal had been taken up on Saturday and was successful.
The Launch Authorisation Board gave the green signal for the launch at a meeting held at the Sriharikota range (Shar) on Sunday. Isro chairman Dr K. Sivan reached Sriharikota and is closely monitoring the launch preparations.
The first attempt to launch the mission on July 15 was called off due to a helium leak.
Chandrayaan-2, which includes an orbiter, the lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan, is scheduled to be injected into a highly elliptical ‘parking’ orbit that is 170 km above Earth at its closest and 39,120 km at its farthest.
A series of manoeuvres will them be carried out to raise its orbit and put Chandrayaan-2 on a Lunar Transfer Orbit to travel the 3.54 lakh km distance to the moon.
On entering the moon’s sphere of influence, on-board thrusters will slow down the spacecraft. The Chandrayaan-2 will enter into a circular orbit around the moon at a height of 100 km above the lunar surface. The day of landing, September 7, is expected to stay unchanged despite the delay.
