ISRO’s Moon Mission, Involving Landing On Lunar Surface, To Be Launched Between 3 January And 13 February

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced the tentative dates of launch of the ambitious Chandrayan-2 mission, which involves the soft-landing of a probe on the lunar surface. The ISRO will launch its second moon mission between 3 January and 13 February next year reports ANI.

“In January 2019, we will have a major mission Chandrayaan-2 by GSLV-Mk-III-M1. We have taken a review by experts throughout the country. They appreciated our efforts saying this is the most complex mission ISRO has ever taken," ISRO Chairman K Sivan was quoted speaking on a press conference Tuesday (28 August).

Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the moon, is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission nine years ago. This spacecraft is a composite model consisting of orbiter, lander and rover.

Chairman Sivan further added that mass of Chandrayan-2 had been increased to 3.8 tonnes, which makes it impossible to be launched by Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-II (GSLV-II) and therefore had to redefine the launch vehicle to GSLV-MK-III.

“It would be the first mission in the world going near the South Pole," he added.

Chandrayan-1 was launched using a PSLV-XL rocket, serial number C11, on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, about 80 km north of Chennai.

The ISRO plans to launch 19 missions by March 2019. These include launch of four satellites to power the Digital India programme providing high bandwidth for connectivity.