Now in year 2013,
ISRO is preparing again, go back to Moon and this time actually landing on Moon.
The mission is called "Chandrayaan 2" and its a joint venture of India and Russia. So far the designs for Chandrayaan 2 have been completed and ISRO is hopping to launch it by 2013.
Life time of mission is assumed to be 2 years. The mission aims to understand the chemical composition of Moon by analyzing the soil/rocks.
Chandrayaan 2 will be launched using GSLV mk3 with total weight of 2650 kg. Chandrayaan 2 will carry one orbiter and one lander.The orbiter will circle the moon at an altitude of 200 km.
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ISRO is also planning to do soft landing on lunar surface & the lander will carry the lunar robot to its surface.
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| soft landing on lunar surface |
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| lunar lander prototype |
The rover will weigh between 30 kg and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi hard landing or soft landing. It has a maximum speed of 360 m/h. The rover will have an operating life span of a month. Chandrayaan 2 will have a unique robot developed indigenously by student engineers and their professors at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kanpur. Real time data and pictures of the surface there. The two legged robot, fitted with sophisticated sensors and high resolution cameras, is capable of recording information and images using laser beams.
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| prototype from IIT Kanpur. |
Considering the discovery of water in Moon ISRO is planning to incorporate a driller into the rover which will be capable of drilling the lunar surface a little bit and take samples for analysis.
The total cost of the whole mission is expected to reach Rs. 425 cores or we can say about $ 90 million.
