Great News! Chandrayaan-2 mission to be launched by ISRO in April this year

On Friday, Dr Jitendra Singh was addressing a press conference on the achievements of Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy where he announced the news for ISRO. It is expected that the total cost of the Chandrayaan 2 mission will be around Rs 800 crore.

It looks like there is no stopping India’s space missions. Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO is planning to launch the Chandrayaan-2 in April this year, the follow through mission of the popular 2008 mission – Chandrayaan 1. Chandrayaan-2 will be India’s second mission to the moon. The news was confirmed by Dr Jitendra Singh, he is the Minister of State(MoS)(Independent Charge) for the Department of Space. On Friday, Dr Jitendra Singh was addressing a press conference on the achievements of Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy where he announced the news for ISRO.

During the conference, Singh highlighted that Chandraayan-2 is going to be a challenging mission for ISRO as for the first time the rocket will carry an orbiter, a lander and a rover to the moon. It is indeed a matter of pride for India and for ISRO as Singh mentioned that ISRO’s plan to launch Chandrayaan-2 will place India at a new height in space technology.

Shedding more light on ISRO’s mission was the Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman Space Commission Dr Sivan K. It is expected that the total cost of the Chandrayaan 2 mission will be around Rs 800 crore. Dr Sivan gave another timeline for the mission if the mission is not conducted in April. He added, “Even if the weather is unsuitable in April, the window for launch is open till October this year.” Dr Sivan listed out the achievements incurred by the Department of Space in the last four years. He said, “ISRO has successfully accomplished 48 missions, including 21 Launch Vehicle missions, 24 Satellite missions and 3 Technology Demonstrators.”

Back in 2008, Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first mission to Moon. The spacecraft was launched successfully on October 22, 2008, from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The lunar orbiter mission was revolving around the Moon at a height of 100 km. The spacecraft carried the chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the Moon. Along with Chandrayaan-1, the spacecraft also carried 11 more scientific instruments that were built in India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria. After the satellite made more than 3400 orbits around the moon, the Chandrayaan-1 mission was concluded as ISRO lost the communication with the spacecraft on August 29, 2009.