Which Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle was used by ISRO to launch Chandrayaan-2 space craft?

Question

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Correct — A, GSLV Mk III-M1. Chandrayaan-2 lifted off on 22 July 2019 at 14:43 IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on the GSLV Mk III-M1 — the first operational flight of India's heaviest launcher, popularly nicknamed 'Bahubali' for the roughly 3,850 kg composite spacecraft it had to place in an Earth parking orbit. The mission needed Mk III precisely because the payload (orbiter + Vikram lander + Pragyan rover) was far beyond what the smaller GSLV Mk II or the PSLV could send moonward. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 20 August 2019; the Vikram lander deviated from its descent trajectory below about 2.1 km and was lost on 6-7 September 2019, but the orbiter continued to function. The launcher has since been redesignated LVM3, and it was the LVM3-M4 flight that carried Chandrayaan-3 in July 2023 to its successful soft landing.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) GSLV Mk II is a real vehicle, but it is the smaller three-stage launcher used for two-tonne-class communication satellites, and its flights are designated in the D/F series (GSLV-D5, F08, F11...), not 'M2'. It did not have the lift capability for Chandrayaan-2's composite stack.  (c) There is no GSLV Mk IV. ISRO's GSLV family stops at Mk III (now LVM3); Mk IV is an invented designation meant to catch candidates who assume the numbering simply keeps climbing.  (d) There is no GSLV Mk V either. It is the same trap as Mk IV, one step further — an unused Roman numeral attached to a plausible-looking flight number.

Concept: ISRO operates a graded fleet of launchers matched to payload mass and orbit. PSLV mainly places remote-sensing satellites in sun-synchronous polar orbits; GSLV Mk II lifts about two tonnes of communication satellite to geostationary transfer orbit using an indigenous cryogenic upper stage; and GSLV Mk III / LVM3 — a three-stage vehicle with two S200 solid strap-ons, a liquid L110 core and a C25 cryogenic upper stage — is the heavy-lift workhorse for four-tonne-class GTO missions and for India's interplanetary and human-spaceflight ambitions. Chandrayaan-2 was the vehicle's first operational (as against developmental) flight.

State PCS 2019 Q8 — Science & Technology PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2019 Q8 — Science & Technology PYQ with Answer