Sriharikota: The launch having gone off flawlessly and Chandrayaan-2 on its way to the moon, Isro scientists will have several heart-stopping moments.
The mission has to leave the earth’s orbit at the precise moment, take the space-path to the moon and, once there, begin orbiting the satellite.
Then, in September, comes the most tense part of the mission: the lander Vikram, carrying the rover Pragyan, will detach from the orbiter and soft-land on the moon.
Isro chief Dr K. Sivan said the soft-landing on the moon will be highly demanding; he termed it “15 terrifying minutes”.
A total of 38 soft-landing attempts have been made by several countries on the moon.
The success rate is 52 per cent. An Israeli spacecraft crash-landed on the moon some months ago.
