India’s 2nd moon date in March ’18

NEWDELHI: India is aiming for the moon, again.

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) second unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan 2, will lift off in March 2018, a decade after Chandrayaan 1 was launched, sources told Hindustan Times on Tuesday.

Chandrayaan 2 would be launched on a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark 2 (GSLV Mk 2) that will blast off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, sources said, refusing to disclose the exact lift-off date.

GSLV Mk 2 is the largest launch vehicle developed by India and has several successful missions to its credit, as per the website of the space agency.

Weighing 3,250kg, Chandrayaan (moon vehicle) 2 will have an orbiter, lander and rover.

The orbiter will be launched into a lunar orbit where the lander will separate, make a soft landing on the moon and deploy the rover, Isro sources added.

It will be an advanced version of Chandrayaan 1, with the launch of which India becoming only the fourth country to hoist its flag on the moon after the US, erstwhile USSR and Japan.

India launched Chandrayaan 1 on October 22, 2008. It included a probe, impactor and orbiter. The probe crash-landed on lunar surface on November 14, 2008. The mission was lauded for costing a fraction — about $80 million — of similar missions. Japanese’s SELENE cost $480 million.

Chandrayaan 2 is expected to cost $91 million.

Less than a year after the launch, Chandrayaan 1 faced numerous technical difficulties and on August 29, 2009, Isro lost contact with the craft, well before the mission length of two years. It nevertheless fulfilled some 80% of its designated tasks.