Kanyakumari: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is eyeing to create history with India’s second moon mission by launching Chandrayaan-2 rover on Moon’s South Pole for the first time.
Speaking to reporters, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said, “Till date nobody has made an attempt to land a rover in the region. It has been only near the equator (of the Moon).We will be attempting to launch the rover (of Chandrayaan 2) in lunar South Pole for the first time.”
Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan), the three modules of the moon mission are getting ready for the launch which is scheduled in July and the lander was expected to touch down on the lunar surface in early September.
Sivan revealed that the launch window for the mission was onboard GSLV MK-III rocket from 9 July to 16 July with an expected Moon landing on 6 September.
The Orbiter and Lander modules will be interfaced mechanically and stacked together as an integrated module and accommodated inside the launch vehicle.
The Rover is housed inside the Lander. On ISRO’s proposed Aditya-L1 mission, Sivan said currently scientists were exploring possibilities to study more about Sun.
“To learn about Sun orbit, we will be sending Aditya-L1 during the first half of next year”, he said. The mission is aimed at observing the solar corona, the outer layers of the Sun. The satellite would be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1 (Lagrangian point 1) of the Sun-Earth system so that it has the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses.
The L1 is 1.5 million kms from the Earth. On a question about tracking cyclone Fani, he said, with the details provided by ISRO, officials were able to forecast the landfall area and this helped in taking precautionary measures in advance.