Days after being suspended over technical snag, the countdown for country’s landmark second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 is set to commence in the evening today. Its launch is to take place at 2.43 p.m. on Monday.
The spacecraft is to zoom into space onboard the rocket GSLV-Mark-Three from its Sriharikota-based launch pad Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Having a lift-off mass of 640 tons, the booster GSLV-Mark-Three will initially carry Chandrayaan-2 to an elliptical orbit around the earth.
Its deadline was earlier revised by the ISRO.
According to the schedule, Chandrayaan-2 will encircle the earth for 23 days. Finally, the spaceship will be made to leave the earth’s sphere of influence following staging a series of manoeuvres.
On the launch’s 30th day, it will reach an orbit around the moon and for 13 days, Chandrayaan-2 will be on a lunar bound phase.
It maybe noted that Chandrayaan-2 lander is to detach from its orbiter on the 43rd day and descend in slow motion. On 48th day, it is expected to touch-down on the South Pole of the moon on September 7.
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It will be followed by the rover emerging from the lander to venture out for the study of the lunar terrain.
The orbiter’s mission life, at a 100-km radius from the moon, would be a year. The lander and the rover will carry out experiments for a lunar day which equals 14 days on the earth.