The Indian Space Research Organisation on Wednesday announced that India’s second mission to the moon will be launched between July 9 and 16, and that it is expected to land on September 6. In August 2018, the organisation had said it will launch Chandrayaan 2 in January 2019 and described it as “most complex mission” undertaken by ISRO.
The mission will be launched on a GSLV Mk-III rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota, Mint reported.
The space agency said in a statement that all the modules of the mission – Orbiter, Lander and Rover – will be ready by July. The mission aims to land on the moon’s south pole.
“The orbiter and lander modules will be interfaced mechanically and stacked together as an integrated module and accommodated inside the GSLV MK-III launch vehicle,” ISRO said. “The rover is housed inside the lander. After launch into earth bound orbit by GSLV MK-III, the integrated module will reach Moon orbit using Orbiter propulsion module.”
“Subsequently, lander will separate from the orbiter and soft land at the predetermined site close to lunar South Pole,” the statement added. “Further, the rover will roll out for carrying out scientific experiments on the lunar surface. Instruments are also mounted on lander and orbiter for carrying out scientific experiments.”
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