In A First, ISRO To Launch Three Rovers To Moon On A Single Rocket In 2017

For the first time in the history of space exploration, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch three rovers to the Moon placed on a single rocket. The three rovers, one of which is India’s first private mission to the moon by Team Indus, will be sent into space using ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-Xl (PSLV-X1). The other two rovers will be from Japan.

According to Times of India, the mission is scheduled to lift off around 28 December 2017. The launch will be a part of the global lunar competition, Google Lunar X Prize. The competition offers a total of $30 million in prizes to the first privately funded teams to land a robot on the Moon that successfully travels more than 500 meters (1,640 ft) and transmits back high-definition images and video.

Team Indus’s rover will be a sleek solar-powered unit with a mission duration of one lunar day, equivalent to 14 earth days. It has been designed to carry up to 20 kilogrammes of payload. The Japanese team, called Hakuto, will field a dual rover system consisting of the two-wheeled 'Tetris' and the four-wheeled 'Moonraker', linked using a tether.