Calling off 'Chandrayaan-2' launch by ISRO is 'normal: says former Director of IDSA

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has done the right thing by rescheduling the launch date of the 'Chandrayaan-2' to fix the snags in the launch vehicle system. former Director of Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), G Balachandran said on Monday.

"It is normal. If there are anomalies, you just cannot send it off. The mission cost is over Rs100 crore. It may be a simple thing or complex thing, they'll analyze it," he told ANI here.

Earlier in the wee hours of Monday, in a last-minute revision of schedule, the ISRO announced that the launch of India's second lunar mission 'Chandrayaan-2' has been called off due to a technical snag.

ISRO's public relations officer (PRO) Guruprasad said that the revised launch date will be announced later.

"A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at 1 hour before the launch. As a measure of abundant precaution, Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later" the ISRO tweeted minutes ahead of the scheduled launch on Monday.

Balachandran said such revisions due to technical snags have happened in the past too.

"This happens many a time, this is not unusual. In the manned missions they have asked the astronauts sitting in the capsule to get down and abort the mission," he said.

Expressing faith in the decision taken by ISRO, he said, "They monitor everything till they launch. This is a complex mission so many things needed to be managed. Everything requires analyses nothing can be left to chance."

The country's second lunar spacecraft was to be launched onboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk-III from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh at 2:51 am.

Chandrayaan-2, which has home-grown technology, will explore a region of Moon where no mission has ever set foot. According to ISRO Chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan, the landing site, at a latitude of about 70 degrees south, is the southernmost for any mission till date.

The spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover together referred to as "composite body". The probe's total mass is 3.8 ton and it is expected to land on Moon's south polar region on September 6 or 7 this year.

It will be the first Indian expedition to attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface. This mission will make India the fourth country after the US, Russia, and China to carry out a soft landing on Moon.