Lift-off carries India’s hopes to become fourth nation to land on Moon
Patriotic pride is tempered by concerns over cost of mission as rocket blasts off following technical delay
INDIA has successfully launched its unmanned lunar mission, putting it on course to become the fourth country to reach the Moon. It comes a week after the launch was called off at the 11th hour as a result of a technical fault.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said Chandrayaan-2 blasted into orbit at 2.43pm local time yesterday from a space station in Sriharikota in south-eastern India.
Applause erupted in the ISRO control room within seconds of the launch, broadcast live on Indian television. A launch was called off at the 11th hour last week as a result of an engine fault.
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, yesterday praised Chandrayaan-2 as “unique”. Last year he announced a manned space mission by 2022. The current mission will cost £120million, while the manned mission will reportedly require a huge ISRO funding increase from £1.3billion to £4billion.
Critics have questioned India’s space ambitions, arguing that it is inappropriate in a nation that receives financial assistance from the UK and the World Bank, and where millions of people struggle with crippling poverty.
“India is capable of undertaking individual projects efficiently, but incapable of sustaining any long-term developmental endeavours,” said Seema Mustafa of the Centre for Policy Analysis in New Delhi.
She said such “overreach” was typical of governments that prided themselves on registering milestones rather than providing Indians with food, clean water, power, health, education and employment. Officials robustly defended the mission.
Yesterday, the mood at Dhawan Space Centre on the Satish India’s east coast, was jubilant. “We bounced back with flying colours,” said ISRO chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan, referring to the July 15 countdown that was halted 56 minutes before its scheduled blast-off.
Launched aboard the domestically developed Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, the 640-ton spacecraft is due to touch down on the Moon after a 48-day journey on Sept 6.
It will be the first mission to the Moon’s south pole to map its topography and look for water. It would make India the fourth country after China, Russia and the US to execute a “soft” landing on the Moon and deploy an investigative rover on to its surface.
Chandrayaan-2 – Sanskrit for “Moon Vehicle” – comprises three distinct parts: the “orbiter” with a mission life of one year built to take images of the lunar surface and “sniff ” the atmosphere, and the lander – named Vikram, after ISRO’S founder – which carries within its belly a six-wheeled rover to analyse the lunar soil during its twoweek mission on the surface.