Sriharikota, July 15: Chandrayaan 2, India's ambitious moon landing mission launch was called off due on Monday following a technical snag in the 'Bahubali' rocket. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) took to Twitter saying a technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at 1 hour before the launch. "As a measure of abundant precaution, Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later", it added. The snag was reported about one hour before it was to blast-off from onboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk-III from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. Chandrayaan 2 Launch Called Off For Today Due to Technical Snag, ISRO To Announce New Launch Date For India's Second Moon Mission Later.

There was a lot of confusion for several minutes before ISRO came out with an official confirmation about the launch being cancelled. “A technical snag was observed in the launch vehicle system at t-minus 56 minutes. As a measure of abundant precaution Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off for today,” ISRO Associate Director (Public Relations), B R Guruprasad said.

According to a tweet by ANI, Ravi Gupta, Former Director Public Interface DRDO said ISRO had taken the right decision to call off the launch of Chandrayaan 2 as no chance can be taken in such a big mission. "It was the right decision to call off Chandrayaan 2 launch. We could not have taken any chance in such a big mission. Several rounds of testing are performed of every part. Every movement needs to be monitored at every second", Gupta said.

Here's the tweet:

Meanwhile, G Balachandran, Former Director, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses said, the calling off of the mission was a normal thing because it was a massive mission. "It's normal. If there're anomalies, you just can’t send it off. Mission cost is over Rs.100 cr. It may be a simple thing or complex thing, they'll analyze it", Balachandran added.

Here's the tweet:

The ISRO had scheduled the lift-off of the three-component spacecraft weighing 3,850 kg and comprising an orbiter, the lander and the rover was scheduled from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) on Monday. The Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 onboard the heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle GSLV-MkIII-M1, nicknamed Baahubali, would have taken 54 days to accomplish the task of landing on the Moon through meticulously planned orbital phases.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 15, 2019 10:34 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).