India is relaunching its plan to successfully land on the moon and is aiming to complete an unmanned mission to the lunar surface in 2020.
Kailasavadivoo Sivan, head of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told reporters in Bengaluru work is going ‘smoothly’ on Chandrayaan-3.
He also revealed a tentative plan to launch in November, but admitted it is possible the timeline will spill over into 2021, according to local reports.
Its predecessor, Chandrayaan-2, attempted to put a rover on the moon but resulted in failure when the young space agency lost contact with the craft in September.
We are targeting the launch for this year but it may spillover to next year,’ Sivan said.
Further to the announcement of Chandrayaan-3, Indian officials also revealed that India has chosen four candidate astronauts to take part in the country’s first manned mission into orbit, pledged to take place by mid-2022.
The project, called Gaganyaan, will start training astronauts later this month and is predicted by the Indian government to cost less than 100 billion rupees ($1.4 billion).
Chairman Sivan also revealed the new propulsion module, lander and surface rover would cost about $35 million, with a significantly higher outlay for the launch itself.
The price-tag of the future launch is significantly less than the suspected $140million bill for Chandrayaan-2, recycling most techniques and apparatus.
The only major change to the set-up is the lack of lunar orbiter, with just a lander and a rover.
Chandrayaan-2 comprised of three modules, an Orbiter, a Lander called Vikram, and a Rover called Pragyan.
WHAT WAS CHANDRAYAAN-2?
Chandrayaan-2 is the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) second lunar probe. It is comprised of three modules, an Orbiter, a Lander called Vikram, and a Rover called Pragyan.
The Orbiter has a terrain mapping camera to help prepare 3D maps of the moon’s surface, an X-ray spectrometer looking for major elements including titanium and sodium, and another high resolution camera to help the other modules land safely.
Vikram has an instrument to detect seismic activity on the moon, and a thermal probe that will examine the thermal conductivity of the lunar surface.
Pragyan has an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer that examines the elemental composition of the surface and a laser induced breakdown spectroscope which looks at the abundance of various elements nearby.
The entire mission has cost around 10 billion rupees (£120million).
Both Pragyan and Vikram perished in the botched mission after a successful release from the orbiter on September 6, 2019.
India has been striving for a successful landing on the moon for more than a decade when its Chandrayaan-1 mission confirmed water deposits in the permanently shadowed moon craters at the lunar south pole in 2008.
Only the United States, the former Soviet Union and China have landed a spacecraft on the moon.
Israel attempted the feat in April 2019, but the manoeuvre similarly ended in failure.
A soft-landing is essential in ensuring a craft can land safely, and allow it to return to Earth because the surface of the moon is covered in a layer of dust and not firm.
Vikram was supposed to land on a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, which are around 70° south.
From there, the six-wheeled rover Pragyan would spend two weeks exploring an uncharted region and carrying out topographical studies, mineralogical analyses and other experiments in a bid to help the world gain a better understanding of the moon’s origins.
WHAT HAS INDIA’S SPACE AGENCY DONE TO REACH THE MOON?
Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first lunar orbiter, launched in 2008.
The £49 million ($69 million) mission was launched amid national euphoria, putting India in the Asian space race alongside rival China and reinforcing its claim to be considered a global power.
A vehicle landed on the moon a month later and sent back images of the lunar surface.
In 2009 India terminated the mission a year earlier than planned, after scientists lost all contact with their unmanned orbiting spacecraft.
A crucial sensor in the main craft malfunctioned in July experts believe.
The satellite is believed to have crashed into the moon’s surface.
‘Our efforts to establish contact have failed. The mission has been terminated,’ said S Satish, from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at the time.
‘There was no point continuing with the mission.’
Named Chandrayaan-2, the vehicle will take between one and two months to reach orbit and once the rover reaches the surface it will explore the area around the south pole.
It is the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) second lunar probe.
Weighing nearly 3,300kg (7,300lbs), the spacecraft will take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, off India’s southwest coast.
It is now set for launch in January 2019
Source: dailymail
alone player [url=http://viacheapusa.com/#]cheap viagra usa without prescription[/url] wild material tourist definition generic viagra sales extra
image cheap viagra usa without prescription instead aspect http://viacheapusa.com/
lake morning bimatoprost ophthalmic solution ahead storm
sure [url=https://careprost.confrancisyalgomas.com/#]careprost for sale[/url]
wild kiss https://careprost.confrancisyalgomas.com/
regularly school [url=https://bvsinfotech.com/#]deltasone generic[/url] last pin only tell deltasone generic lower arm deltasone generic back instance https://bvsinfotech.com/