Chandrayaan-2: Nat Geo plans 'live show' from ISRO on soft landing of lunar mission rover

With the Chandrayaan-2 rover expected to soft land on the lunar surface in September, a live show from ISRO has been planned on the D-Day by the National Geographic, the network said on Wednesday.

India on Monday successfully launched the ambitious mission on-board its powerful rocket GSLV-MkIII-M1 from a spaceport in Sriharikota to explore the uncharted south pole of the moon. The rover's soft landing is planned for September 7.

"The live show, scheduled in September, will slowly drum up the excitement by giving the viewers deeper insights into the historic moment," the National Geographic said in a statement.

"The show will be an interesting interplay of live coverage and pre-shot stories narrating the iconic nature of the mission and interview of experts from the field to talk about the mission," it said.

The programme will originate from the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Command Centre, from where the National Geographic will share live updates as Chandrayaan-2 attempts to soft land on the surface of the moon.

The towering geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle, in its first operational flight, had lifted-off on July 22 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota into cloudy skies at 2.43 pm and successfully placed the 3,850-kg Chandrayaan-2 into the earth orbit 16 minutes and 14 seconds later.