Abort, abort! Chandrayaan 2 helium leak plays spoiler

Sriharikota: A new date for the launch of India’s much-vaunted second lunar probe Chandrayaan-2 will be announced as soon as a committee of experts identifies the rogue component which forced a hold on the GSLV MkIII rocket’s flight in the wee hours of Monday.

Mission control at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota Range, halted the countdown 56.24 minutes before the launch, on discovering leak of helium from the cryogenic upper stage of the rocket.

Sources in Isro told Deccan Chronicle that a pre-dawn review meeting about the snag was chaired by Isro chairman Dr K. Sivan, where a decision was taken to set up a committee to identify the malfunctioning component in the cryogenic upper stage of the rocket.

This committee would be able to commence its probe after draining of tonnes of fuel over the next two days.

“These experts must be able to reach the upper stage at the launch pad, and find out what caused the leak of helium. In case this is not possible, the rocket will be moved back from the launch pad to the assembly facility. Dr Sivan and other top scientists and engineers will meet again to study the report which will be submitted by the committee and subsequently take a decision on the next launch date. This entire process could take about two weeks,” sources added.  

Sources said though Dr Sivan hinted about the possibility of a launch on July 16 in case of a snag, it would not be possible because of a very brief launch window on Tuesday and the fact that a number of tests and dry runs are essential before announcement of the launch date.

Former Isro chairman G. Madhavan Nair said a dip in pressure in the fuel tanks or a leap in these tanks were handled with ease earlier.

“I remember that we had a leak during fuelling of PSLV rocket which launched Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008. Despite a downpour, I went along with other engineers, to fix the leaking fuel line a few hours before the blast off,” the former Isro chairman added.