Indian Chandrayaan II Set for 2013 Launch

July 8, 2009 - 2:35 am | 30 views

Technology.am (July 8, 2009) — Following the success of Chandrayaan I, the second mission is getting ready as planned. ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair has revealed that India’s space organization will launch the Chandrayaan II in the year 2013.

chandrayaan-1 One of the prime objectives of Chandrayaan-II is to land a motorised rover on the surface of the moon. The custom-designed rover would explore the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do on-site chemical analysis and send the data to the mother craft Chandrayaan II which will be orbiting above. Subsequently, the data would be transmitted to the earth.

The Chandrayaan II mission will be far more complicated as compared to the first one because of the Moon Rover landing that this mission involves. Landing a rover on the moon is a complicated task, as the moon does not have an atmosphere that can slow down the descent of the rover with parachutes. The ISRO is working on alternatives that will endure a safe landing for the rover.

Isro is also planning to launch a geo-stationary satellite within two to three years to help the Indian meteorological department’s weather-change monitoring system.

Further Reading