Indian rocket heads for moon’s south pole

India has sent a spacecraft to ­explore water deposits on the far side of the moon in a successful launch.

This Chandrayaan takes off from Sriharikota, India, on Monday. Picture: AP

India has sent a spacecraft to ­explore water deposits on the far side of the moon in a successful launch after a technical problem caused a week’s delay.

Scientists at the mission control centre burst into applause as the rocket lifted off in clear weather on Monday afternoon from ­Sriharikota, in southern India.

The Chandrayaan, the Sanskrit word for “moon craft”, is scheduled to land on the lunar south pole in September and send a rover to explore water deposits confirmed by an earlier, orbiting mission.

India would become only the fourth nation to land on the moon, following the US, Russia and China. The nation’s first moon mission in 2008 helped confirm the presence of water, and it plans to send its first manned spaceflight by 2022, ahead of a planned US manned spacecraft to the moon’s south pole in 2024.

India’s launch coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission this week, and comes as the world’s biggest space agencies are returning their gaze to the moon.

The moon is seen as an ideal testing ground and, with the confirmed­ discovery of water, as a possible pit stop along the way to deep space explor­ation.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country’s lunar program would get a substantial boost, writing on Twitter that the country’s existing knowledge of the moon “will be significantly ­enhanced”.

India’s space agency chief, Kaila­savadivoo Sivan, said the rocket successfully injected the spacecraft into orbit, and the launch was the “beginning of India’s historic journey” to the moon.

The launch of the $US141 million ($200m) moon mission was called off less than an hour before lift-off last week because of a “technical snag’’.

Local media reported that scientists from the Indian Space Researc­h Organisation had identified a leak while filling helium in the rocket’s cryogenic engine.

The space agency neither confirmed nor ­denied the reports, saying instead that the problem had been identified and corrected.

The spacecraft that launched on Monday is carrying an orbiter, lander and rover that will move around the lunar surface for 14 Earth days. It will travel about 47 days before landing on the moon.

India put a satellite into orbit around Mars in its first interplanetary mission in 2013 and 2014.

With India poised to become the world’s fifth-largest economy, Mr Modi’s nationalist government is eager to show off the country’s prowess in security and technology. India successfully test-fired an anti-satellite weapon in March, which Mr Modi said demonstrated the country’s capacity as a space power alongside the US, Russia and China.

AP