Chandrayaan-1
Chandrayaan-2, which may place robotic rover on the moon, is likely to be launched in April [Representational Image]Reuters

The Indian Space Research Organisation is gearing up to launch its second lunar mission -- Chandrayaan-2 and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Dr Jitendra Singh said that this could be one of the best missions by ISRO. He also said that the Chandrayaan-2 is more powerful than NASA's Apollo missions.

"Chandrayaan-2 is one of the most remarkable ISRO missions of 2018 and it will be a world event," Singh, who is in charge of India's space missions, told NDTV. He added that the unmanned mission will add to India's credibility and competitiveness when it comes to space programmes and "packs more power than the Apollo missions by NASA."

He also explained that the Chandrayaan-2 has several scientific capabilities and could send important data regarding the moon back to the Earth. He also explained that the data then "may open up possibilities of future habitation of the moon."

"Chandrayaan-2 will be a breakthrough mission not only for India but for the entire world," he added and also said that it would make Indians "proud."

Chandrayaan-2 is an exhaustive mission and much more challenging and complicated than the first one. Speaking of the mission, Isro chairman K Sivan had earlier told the Times of India that the Chandrayaan spacecraft will take quite some time to reach the moon's orbit. 

chandrayan
This handout picture provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shows the surface of the moon taken by Moon Impact Probe (MIP), after separating from India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, November 14, 2008. A lunar probe from India's first unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1 has landed on the moon and started sending its first images, officials at the Indian Space Research Organisation said on Friday.Reuters

"Chandraayan-2 is a challenging mission as for the first time we will carry an orbiter, a lander and a rover to the moon. The launch date schedule is sometime in April. Once the GSLV rocket carrying the spacecraft is launched from Sriharikota, the orbiter will reach the moon's orbit in one to two months. (The moon's orbit is 3,82,000km away from the earth's surface)," Sivan told TOI.

Chandrayaan -2 Fact File

  • The Chandrayaan-2 mission is said to be much more challenging than the first one.
  • This time the spacecraft will be carried by heavy-payload lifter GSLV Mk II, unlike the first time when the spacecraft was launched by a PSLV rocket.
  • The GSLV Mk II will launch the spacecraft that will weigh about 3,290kg, which includes an orbiter, a rover and a lander to the moon.
  • The Chandrayaan-2 is being readied at  ISRO's satellite centre in Bengaluru
  • It will carry 13 scientific instruments, which will study the moon 
  • Over 100 scientists are said to be working on the mission.

"After reaching the moon's orbit, the lander will get detached from the orbiter and do a soft-landing near the south pole of the moon. The 6-wheeled rover fixed within the lander will get detached and move on the lunar surface.

"The rover has been designed in such a way that it will have power to spend a lunar day or 14 Earth days on the moon's surface and walk up to 150-200 km. It will do several experiments and on-site chemical analysis of the surface."

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