April 18, 2018
The total cost includes US$30 million as the cost of launching and US$90 million crore for the satellite - roughly half of the expense of launching a mission from a foreign launching site
Chandrayaan-2 will be equipped with an orbiter, a lander and rover probe to descend on the moon surface to observe and send back data, which will be used for analysis of the lunar soil
Chandrayaan-2 is entirely indigenous in its innovation, manufacturing and material, in line with the Indian Government’s “Make in India” initiative which is aimed at developing native expertise
ISRO is preparing to launch another mission, GSAT-29, around June-July this year. The mission, also termed as GSAT-29, will carry communication payloads to bridge digital divide in rural areas
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) aims to launch India’s second moon mission later this year. The national space agency expects to launch “Chandrayaan-2” from Sriharikota around October-November this year. The total cost of the mission has been estimated at around US$120 million, which includes US$30 million as the cost of launching and US$90 million crore for the satellite. This cost is roughly half of the expenses of launching a mission from a foreign launching site. Chandrayaan-2 will be equipped with an orbiter, a lander and rover probe to descend on the moon surface to observe and send back data, which will be used for analysis of the lunar soil. The mission will place India at a new height in international space technology.
Chandrayaan-2 is entirely indigenous in its innovation, manufacturing and material, in line with the Indian Government’s “Make in India” initiative which is aimed at developing native expertise. ISRO is preparing to launch another mission, GSLV Mk III-D2, around June-July this year. The mission, also termed as GSAT-29, will carry communication payloads which targets Village Resource Centres (VRC) in rural areas to bridge the digital divide. ISRO has launched eight communication satellites, seven navigational satellite, five remote sensing satellite, two meteorological satellite, one science satellite and nine technology demonstration and student satellites over the last five years. Concurrently, ISRO has carried out 17 rocket launches over the past three years.
The Chandrayaan-1 mission, launched in October 2008, had performed high-resolution remote sensing of the moon surface. One of the objectives of the mission was to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both near and far side of the moon. It aimed at conducting chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface for distribution of mineral and chemical elements such as Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Calcium, Iron and Titanium as well as high atomic number elements such as Radon, Uranium & Thorium with high spatial resolution. The mission had marked several firsts for space technology. Last year, ISRO had also gathered global accolade after launching 104 satellites, including three from India and 101 from six foreign countries, in a single mission.