India on Monday successfully launched Chandrayaan 2 into space to perform a soft landing of a rover on the moon. The country's most ambitious mission yet to cement its position as a leading low-cost space power had cost 10-billion rupee ($146 million). If successful, it will enable India to carry out studies on the presence of water on the south pole of the moon. The rocket blasted off onboard the Bahubali GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota at around 2:43 pm. The launch had been delayed by a week due to a technical snag.

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Its integrated module, which comprises technology and software developed across the country, includes ISRO`s most powerful launch vehicle to date and a wholly-indigenous rover. The lander of Chandrayaan-2 is named `Vikram` after Vikram A. Sarabhai, the father of the Indian Space Programme. This lander has been designed to function for one lunar day, which is equivalent to about 14 Earth days. Vikram has the capability to communicate with IDSN at Byalalu near Bengaluru, as well as with the orbiter and the rover. The lander is designed to execute a soft landing on the lunar surface.

The rocket's rover is a six-wheeled robotic vehicle named 'Pragyan', which translates to 'wisdom'. The vehicle claims to travel up to 500 metre and leverages solar energy for its functioning. It can only communicate with the lander. The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter will be capable of communicating with Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu as well as the Vikram lander. The mission life of the orbiter is one year and it will be placed in a 100x100 km lunar polar orbit.

Watch Chandrayaan 2 launch video -

The rocket is being carried by Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV Mk-III) which is nation's most powerful launcher to date. The launcher is capable of launching four-tonne class of satellites to the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The mission is expected to help in better understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon by conducting detailed topographical studies, comprehensive mineralogical analyses and a host of other experiments on the lunar surface.