The 20-hour countdown for the July 15 early morning launch of India's rocket nicknamed 'Bahubali' which will carry the Chandrayaan-2 shuttle is advancing smoothly, Indian space organization authorities said.
"The countdown started at 6.51 am on Sunday," K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), told IANS.
At around 44 meter tall, the 640-ton rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III) is nicknamed 'Bahubali'. Furthermore, much the same as the hero in the hit film by a similar name lifted an overwhelming 'lingam', the rocket will carry the 3.8 ton Chandrayaan-2 shuttle.
Around 16 minutes into its flight, the GSLV-Mk III rocket is relied upon to sling the crore Chandrayaan-2 into the Earth’s Orbit.
From that point, it will be a long journey to the moon for the Chandrayaan-2 shuttle carrying a lander called Vikram and a rover called Pragyan.
On September 6, the lander Vikram is required to soft land on the moon and after that the rover Pragyan will take off to do in-situ analyzes.
During the commencement, the rocket and the shuttle's frameworks will experience checks and fuel will be filled to control the rocket motors.
As per ISRO, filling of the fluid fuel in the Liquid Core Stage has been finished on Sunday.
GSLV-Mk III is intended to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or around 10 ton to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about double the ability of GSLV Mk II.
The vehicle has two strap on engines, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage. Until this point, ISRO has sent up three GSLV-Mk III rockets.
The first was on December 18, 2014, which carried the Crew Module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment. The second and third GSLV-Mk III went up on February 5, 2017 and November 14, 2018, which carried correspondence satellites GSAT-19 and GSAT-29.
Curiously, GSLV-Mk III will likewise be utilized for India's kept manned space mission slated in 2022.
Image Credit: ISRO
