Chandrayaan-2 cleared by Indian government, ISRO starts research

After the great success of Chandrayaan-1, the Indian government has given the go-ahead to Chandrayaan-2.

Chandrayaan-1’s project director has said that ISRO has started research for Chandrayaan-2, for which the Indian government has sanctioned the required funds.

If all goes well, Chandrayaan-2 is expected to be in orbit by 2012.

ISRO has said the Chandrayaan-II will be a fully indigenous one. Earlier, ISRO had said that Chandryaan-2 is likely to be a joint project between India and Russia, and would accomodate payloads from international space agencies.

Chandrayaan-1 carried six payloads from international space agencies, such as NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, free of cost.

The Chandrayaan-2 will feature a rover and a lander. The Chandrayaan-2 mission will aim to land a rover on the Moon. The rover will move on wheels on the Moon’s surface, and pick up rock and soil samples.

Chandrayaan-2’s rover will also be expected to perform on-site chemical analysis and send the data to Chandrayaan-2 in the orbit. Chandrayaan-2 will then transmit the data to Earth.

Chandrayaan 1 lift off

Chandrayaan-1 was launched on October 22, 2008, by the PSLV XL from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The estimated cost of the Chandrayaan-1 project is Rs 386 crore, much less than the amount spent by its Japanese and Chinese counterparts. The cost of the Chandrayaan-2 is likely to be higher than that of Chandrayaan-1.

The main goals of Chandrayaan-1 were to conduct high-resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of the permanently shadowed north and south polar regions, to search for water, identify chemical in highland rocks, and map the height variation of lunar surface features.

The Chandrayaan-1 also aims to observe X-Ray spectrum greater than 10keV, to create a 3-D Moon globe, and chemically map the entire surface of the Moon.