Insta
ISRO’s Lunar Mission Which Involves Landing A Rover On Moon Gets Delayed, Will Be Launched In October
Swarajya Staff
Mar 25, 2018, 12:23 PM | Updated 12:23 PM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Chandrayaan-2, India's second Moon mission, will now be launched in the first week of October, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief Dr K Sivan has said. The launch of the mission, which was originally scheduled for April, has been postponed after experts suggested some more tests.
"Our panel of eminent space scientists comprising former ISRO chairmen, top space experts and IIT professors has praised our preparations for the Chandrayaan-2 mission. However, keeping in mind the complexities involved in the mission as for the first time Isro is experimenting with a orbiter, a rover and a lander, the panel recommended postponing the launch till we complete all tests and are confident of a perfect mission,” Sivan was quoted by the Times of India as saying.
The Rs 800-crore mission will carry a six-wheeled Rover which will move around the landing site in semi-autonomous mode.
Once the spacecraft reaches the 170 km x 20,000 km elliptical orbit, the orbiter would be manoeuvred towards the 100-km lunar orbit by switching on thrusters. Here, the lander housing the rover will separate from the orbiter. The lander will soft-land near the south pole of the lunar surface and deploy the rover.
“The Chandrayaan-2 weighing around 3290 kg and would orbit around the moon and perform the objectives of remote sensing the moon. The payloads will collect scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, lunar exosphere and signatures of hydroxyl and water-ice,” ISRO has said.
The rover will start sending data back to the Earth via the orbiter within 15 minutes after the landing. Only the United States, Russia and China have been able to soft-land spacecraft on the Moon till date.
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.