India’s Moon mission aborted at last minute

Setback as technical problems force scrapping of £59m lunar probe less than hour before launch

THE launch of India’s second lunar mission was postponed less than an hour before blast-off in a setback for Delhi’s hopes in the “new space race”.

A week before the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, India had hoped to become only the fourth na- tion to explore its surface.

Several developing world powers are vying to join the US, Russia and China in a new wave of space exploration from unexpected places.

India has become known for its lowcost projects with an unmanned 2014 mission to Mars costing $74 million (£59million), roughly a 10th of Nasa’s Maven trip to the Red Planet. The Chandrayaan-2, which cost $150 million, would have become the first satellite to land on the Moon’s south pole.

The aborted launch, however, illustrates the scale of the task and comes months after Israel, another aspiring space power, crashed a landing craft into the Moon.

The Chandrayaan-2 was scheduled to launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, which is on an island off the coast of the south-east state of Andhra Pradesh, at 2.51am local time.

However, with just 56 minutes until launch, it was postponed with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirming a “technical snag was observed in [the] launch vehicle system”. The ISRO is expected to elaborate on the issue and announce a new launch date in due course.

A “soft landing” refers to the touchdown of a device on the Moon, typically used to relay information back to Earth.

The Chandrayaan-2 contained a solar-powered rover programmed to explore the Moon’s unknown south pole, looking for water and other minerals.

It would also deploy an orbiter that will circle the Moon, taking pictures of its surface and sending back details about its atmosphere.

Only three nations have completed a “soft landing” and having the ability to do so has long been associated with being part of a global elite.

India’s first lunar mission in 2008 – Chandrayaan-1 – did not land on the lunar surface, but it carried out the first and most detailed search for water on the Moon using radar.

Narendra Modi, the prime minister, believes the space programme is a key means of establishing India as a world power – despite critics saying he should instead have spent the money on alleviating penury, as 270 million Indians still live below the poverty line.