tech2 News Staff

The countdown to ISRO’s upcoming Chandrayaan 2 Moon mission is closing in slowly. In about two weeks, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-MkIII (GSLV Mk-III) will carry the Orbiter, Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover to the Moon and conduct several tests with the onboard 13 payloads on each of the three modules. Since this is yet another milestone in India’s space research efforts, ISRO is going to yet again allow visitors to come and witness the rocket launch with their naked eyes at its Launch Viewing Gallery in Sriharikota.

ISRO sent out a tweet confirming that the online registration process to watch the Chandrayaan 2 mission will begin at 12 am on 4 July. There’s no link or microsite given to where the registrations will happen yet. However, we think it will go live at the specified time.

🇮🇳 #ISROMissions 🇮🇳#Chandrayaan2#GSLV

Online registration process for witnessing the forthcoming GSLV MKIII-M1 / Chandrayaan-2 mission will commence @ 00:00 hrs on July 4th 2019 — ISRO (@isro) July 2, 2019

ISRO had announced the construction of a visitor’s gallery at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota a few months back. The organisation wants to spread awareness about the benefits of space technology and the viewing gallery is a part of it. Interested people can simply come over and watch rocket launches from the limited capacity area.

The Launch Viewing Gallery has been created like a stadium that is capable of accommodating 5,000 visitors in the first phase. Earlier, during the PSLV-C45 launch, there were about 1,200 visitors. Its location ensures that there’s a clear line of sight to the two launchpads of the Sriharikota range. All the visitors will be able to simply enter the gallery after registering and enjoy watching rocket launches.

Since this falls under its awareness program, ISRO will try to educate the viewers about the launch using large screens at the venue. It’s going to make an effort to explain all the little details about whatever mission is launching at that time. ISRO also plans to host explainers about pre and post-launch activities to all the viewers and also telecast the same for everyone.

The Chandrayaan 2 take-off has been scheduled on 15 July 2019 and it will be launching from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 2.51 am IST. If all goes to plan, the lander will touchdown on the surface on 6 September 2019.

To catch all the latest updates from the Chandrayaan 2 mission, make sure to follow our special coverage.