Countdown for India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 set to begin this evening

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The countdown for India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 is set to begin this evening. The launch of the landmark mission is scheduled to be at 2.43 PM tomorrow. 

It will zoom into space onboard the rocket GSLV-Mark-Three from the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

The booster GSLV-Mark-Three having a lift-off mass of 640 tons will initially carry Chandrayaan-2 to an elliptical orbit around the earth. 

The revised timeline released by the ISRO says, Chandrayaan-2 will encircle the earth for 23 days. Gradually, it will be made to leave the earth’s sphere of influence, by staging a series of manoeuvres. On the thirtieth day of the launch, it will reach an orbit around the moon. For thirteen days, Chandrayaan-2 will be on a lunar bound phase.

The Chandrayaan-2 lander is scheduled to detach from its orbiter on the 43rd day and descend in slow motion. On the 48th day, it is expected to touch-down on the South Pole of the moon, that falls on September 7. 

It will be followed by the rover emerging from the lander to venture out for the study of the lunar terrain. The mission life of the orbiter 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 is equivalent to 14 days on the earth.