After successfully launching mission Chandrayaan-1 in 2009, Indian Space Research Organisation is now gearing up for Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019. The final testing for India’s second moon mission, Chandrayaan 2 is ongoing.
ISRO on Wednesday has unveiled pictures of the modules of Chandrayaan-2 which will be launched on July 15 at 2:51 am as per ISRO Chairman K Sivan from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The orbiter will land around September 6 or 7 and it will travel around 3.82 lakh km.
Chandryaan-2 will explore a region of moon where no mission has ever set foot. The ISRO chief said the landing site, at about 70 degrees south latitude, is the southernmost for any mission till date. No country has attempted this before.
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However, the work of the Orbiter is to orbit the moon during the mission and place a soft landing at a site. Post the landing, six-wheeled Pragyan will be deployed to carry out experiments on the Moon’s surface.
“The cost of Chandrayaan II Mission, mainly the satellite portion, including the support from foreign agencies as well as for navigation purpose, is Rs. 603 crore,” K Sivan said.
The scientists plan to find water and special minerals on the surface of the moon. Also, the GSLV MKIII which will carry all three modules weighs 3.8 tonnes.
The experiments on Moon will be taken over by ISRO scientists from the Earth. The scientists are presently conducting final tests on the orbiter’s antennae before the orbiter is shipped to an island of Sriharikota for the launch next month.