BLASTING OFF
INDIA has launched a bold mission to touch down on the Moon today – the first in the country's history.
The South Asian nation's Chandrayaan-2 rocket lifted off from the Sriharikota space station a week on from a botched first launch attempt.
A technical snag is said to have grounded the rocket Chandrayaan-2 on July 14, minutes ahead of its flight to the Moon's South Pole.
Chandrayaan-2 finally launched at 10:13am BST on July 22.
Indian space agency Isro said the spacecraft will "take a billion dreams to the Moon - now stronger than ever before".
The space probe is not expected to land on the Moon for several weeks.
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If successful, it would mark the first time India has touched down on the Moon, making it the fourth nation to land there after the US, Russia and China.
An Israeli non-profit mission crashed into the Moon as it attempted to land on the lunar surface earlier this year.
The Chandrayaan-2 rocket - the word for "Moon craft" in Sanskrit - is designed for a soft landing on the lunar south pole.
If the mission reaches the Moon, scientists plan to deploy a rover from the unmanned spacecraft to explore water deposits confirmed by a previous Indian space mission.
The original countdown for the £110million mission had to be stopped 56 minutes before the launch time.
Issues with a loss of pressure in a helium tank in the 640-tonne, 44m-tall rocket forced scientists to ground it.
Prior to launch, Vivek Singh, a spokesman Isro, said: "The low-pressure issue got corrected. The mood is perfect.
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The Moon – our closest neighbour explained
Here's what you need to know...
- The Moon is a natural satellite – a space-faring body that orbits a planet
- It's Earth's only natural satellite, and is the fifth biggest in the Solar System
- The Moon measures 2,158 miles across, roughly 0.27 times the diameter of Earth
- Temperatures on the Moon range from minus 173 degrees Celcius to 260 degrees Celcius
- Experts assumed the Moon was another planet, until Nicolaus Copernicus outlined his theory about our Solar System in 1543
- It was eventually assigned to a "class" after Galileo discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610
- The Moon is believed to have formed around 4.51billion years ago
- The strength of its gravitational field is about a sixth of Earth's gravity
- Earth and the Moon have "synchronous rotation", which means we always see the same side of the Moon – hence the phrase "dark side of the Moon"
- The Moon's surface is actually dark, but appears bright in the sky due to its reflective ground
- During a solar eclipse, the Moon covers the Sun almost completely. Both objects appear a similar size in the sky because the Sun is both 400 times larger and farther
- The first spacecraft to reach the Moon was in 1959, as part of the Soviet Union's Lunar program
- The first manned orbital mission was Nasa's Apollo 8 in 1968
- And the first manned lunar landing was in 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission
“You know in space missions, you can’t go with 99 per cent confidence,” he added. “You should have 100 per cent confidence.”
The South Pole is a current target for exploration for lots of space agencies, including Nasa, because scientists have observed evidence of lots of ice in the craters there.
The presence of ice means that Moon water could potentially be used as a resource for future missions.
Moon water could help astronauts explore the Moon for longer or even stay there.
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In other news, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins slams Nasa's plot to return to Moon – says ‘aim for Mars instead’.
And, here are some fascinating facts that you didn’t know about the 1969 Moon Landing mission.
Are you planning to watch India's Moon mission launch? Let us know in the comments...
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