ISRO schedules Chanrayaan-2 launch for April, to land rover on Moon's north pole
New Delhi : India's second Moon mission Chandrayaan-2 has been postponed to April from its earlier March launch, announced Jitendra Singh who heads the Department of Space.
In the mission that will cost about Rs 800 crores, will attempt to land a rover on the surface of Moon's south pole.
“The rover will land near an as-yet-unexplored south pole,” Isro’s new chairperson, K Sivan said.
“India is going to launch Chandrayaan-2 in April. It is under Chandrayaan-1 mission that the Isro spotted water on the moon. Chandrayaan-2 is a further extension of the project and it is as good as landing a man on the moon,” Singh said at a conference on Friday.
They also revealed plan B in case weather does not co-operate in April; the mission will be reattempted in November if it fails in April.
Related News: Chandrayaan II: India all set to land on Moon for the first time
In a separate conference, B N Suresh, Honorary Distinguished Professor of the Isro, said that Isro was ready to take humans to space. According to Suresh, the technology is ready but the political clearance is pending.
The future plans of the space agency include developing heavier lift launch vehicles, reusable launch vehicles, heavy platforms and human space missions, the professor said.
