• Chandrayaan-2 to be Launched by 2013 - ISRO

    Chandrayaan-2 to be Launched by 2013 - ISRO

    Techtree News Staff, Jan 29, 2010 1608 hrs IST

    A joint collaboration between India and Russia

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For India, Chandrayaan-1 has been a huge success; thanks to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It looks like the institute wants to be back in the limelight. The Economic Times has reported that according to ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan, the configuration for the new moon mission or Chandrayaan-2 is hot on the anvil and the launch is expected to happen by 2013.

Unlike the previous time, where Chandrayaan-1 was a joint attempt with several other international space agencies such as the European Space Agency (ESA) having three of its instruments on board, Chandrayaan-2 will be a joint collaboration between India and old friend Russia. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, will build one lander/rover, while a second smaller rover will be built by India.

ISRO will primarily be handling the orbiter (that part of the spacecraft, which orbits around the moon), while Roscosmos will handle the lander/rover. The rover will scout the lunar surface, pick up soil samples and conduct chemical analysis of it. The generated data will then be sent to the orbiter.

Radhakrishnan told The Economic Times, "We are finalising the configuration for Chandrayaan-2. This mission will have an orbiter, which will carry the lander and a rover. The lander will bring the rover to the surface of the moon and during the time it is there, (it) will take some samples to be analysed in the orbiter and back to the earth. In the orbiter we will have certain instruments, we are finalising which are those to be put there. It is about 50 kgs of mass. There is a scientific team which is looking at the requirements and possibilities and also... from Chandrayaan-1 experiment."

"The lunar environment neither has an atmosphere nor a magnetic field, so the radiation from the sun can directly hit us and severely damage our cells, which can cause cancer. So you need to get into areas where you can avoid radiation; therefore, the concept of tunnel came in. We are trying to look at tunnels where one can get in and live. Though virtually from a big civilisation we will all become cavemen again", said former ISRO Chairman Kasturi Rangan.

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ISRO Chandrayaan-2 Chandrayaan K. Radhakrishnan Indian Space Research Organisation Roscosmos moon lunar orbiter space rocket India Russia



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