Chandrayaan 2 launch: Here’s why ISRO called off Chandrayaan 2 launch at the last minute

India’s second mission to the moon, and the first one to make a soft landing – the Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off. The unmanned mission to the moon had entered its final countdown when at T minus 56 minutes, ISRO officials face a technical snag in the launch vehicle and were forced to suspend the launch countdown.

ISRO officials have stated that a new date and countdown will be restarted later. As of now, the Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off for today (July 15), according to a tweet posted by ISRO. The Indian Space Agency had spotted the issue in the Geo-Stationary Launch Vehicle – GSLV Mk III and they could not repair the issue in the stipulated time frame which led to the launch being suspended. The calling off the launch was taken as a precautionary measure. ISRO has clearly stated that they will be announcing new launch dates soon.

But don’t fret as hope is not lost. ISRO has stated that the launch will happen soon. As with most rocket launches, should a phenomenon arise wherein the launch has to be cancelled, a new launch if it’s going to happen, should mostly happen within the week. According to online forums, the cryogenics are usually drained off and salvaged considering they are in a liquid state, however, there is a danger of losing the cryogenics to venting.

Liquid Oxygen is easy to drain and can be reused. Liquid Hydrogen is much harder to keep cool and there could considerable loss due to venting. However, even after all this, the scrubbing of the Chandrayaan 2 launch means that it will happen soon again. Leveraging nearly a decade of scientific research and engineering development, the Chandrayaan 2 mission is aimed at helping in better understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon by conducting detailed topographical studies, comprehensive mineralogical analyses, and a host of other experiments on the lunar surface.

It will explore the topography of the moon and its composition and will search for water besides conducting in-situ studies. Chandrayaan-2 will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota onboard heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle – Mark III (GSLV Mk III). The Lander, Vikram, was supposed to land near the South Pole of the moon on September 6. Although, the new time frame will be reinstated after the new launch dates have been announced.