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Almost 50 years to the day after Neil Armstrong's arrival on the moon, India launched on Monday, July 22, in space its lunar mission to land a satellite camera, illustrating the renewed international interest for exploration and exploitation of the Moon. A robotic vehicle will be sent to take samples on the southern part, rarely explored.
" This is the beginning of a historic trip to India, " exclaimed Kailasavadivoo Sivan, President of the ISRO Space Agency, on Monday, July 22.
The massive 640 ton GSLV-MkIII rocket, the most powerful rocket launcher of the Indian space agency, pierced the clouds of Sriharikota in southern India. This is the heaviest load ever launched by the Indian space agency, according to our correspondent in New Delhi, Sébastien Farcis . She took off at 9:13 UTC to put the Chandrayaan-2 probe into orbit and carry a robotic vehicle, a first for the country.
#ISRO
Here's a view of the majestic lift-off of # GSLVMkIII-M1 carrying # Chandrayaan2 pic.twitter.com/z1ZTrSnAfH
The purpose of the uninhabited expedition is to land a lander and a mobile robot on September 6 near the South Pole of the Moon, some 384,000 kilometers from the Earth, and to place a probe in lunar orbit.
The six-wheeled machine should explore for two weeks an area 500 meters long rarely studied.
Perhaps the 4th nation on the moon
If the mission is successful, India would become the fourth nation to successfully place a device on the Selenite soil, after the Soviet Union, the United States and China. An Israeli probe missed its moon landing in April and crashed.
Chandrayaan-2 (" Lunar Trolley " in Hindi) was originally scheduled for launch on July 15 , but officials stopped the countdown 56 minutes and 24 seconds before takeoff, because of a " technical problem " that ISRO did not detail officially.
According to the local press, it was a leak in a helium cylinder of the cryogenic engine of the upper stage of the rocket.
# Chandrayaan2 is unique because it will explore and perform studies in the field of lunar land which is not explored and sampled by any past mission.
This mission will offer new knowledge about the Moon.
A small engine
The launcher is not powerful enough to reach the moon directly; the mission must propel itself using the force of gravity.
Chandrayaan-2 will be circling the Earth for nearly three weeks, gradually raising its orbit to reach the lunar orbit. At this point, it will gradually tighten its circles around the star.
The robotic vehicle carried by Chandrayaan 2, called Pragyan, or " wisdom " in Sanskrit, will have to make further samples to know the mineral and biological composition of this unexplored part of the Moon.
►Also read: India announces the dispatch of three astronauts in space by 2022
New Delhi spent 140 million dollars (124 million euros) on its Chandrayaan-2 probe. This amount is much lower than other major space agencies for missions of this type. The Indians have already sent a probe on the earth satellite 11 years ago, which had proved the presence of water.