India is sending a rover to the Moon in 2018
- 6 years ago
BENGALURU, INDIA — The Indian Space Research Organization has announced plans to send a rover to the moon early next year, nearly a decade after its first lunar journey met with mixed success.
First Post reports that the spacecraft for India's Chandrayaan-2 moon mission is comprised of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, which will first slingshot around Earth before being going into lunar orbit.
The lander will attempt a controlled or soft landing near the moon's south pole, while the orbiter travels around the moon.
Once on the surface, the lander will take thermal measurements and deploy the six-wheeled rover to explore the lunar terrain.
Among the things the mission will pay close attention to are abrasive particles known as lunar dust, which pose a significant challenge to human colonization of the moon.
The Chandrayaan-2 will be carried into space by the GSLV Mark II rocket, and is scheduled to launch from an island in the Bay of Bengal in March 2018.
India will carry out the final testing phase for the spacecraft in the coming weeks. The program's budget for the mission is relatively small, at only 93 million dollars.
First Post reports that the spacecraft for India's Chandrayaan-2 moon mission is comprised of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, which will first slingshot around Earth before being going into lunar orbit.
The lander will attempt a controlled or soft landing near the moon's south pole, while the orbiter travels around the moon.
Once on the surface, the lander will take thermal measurements and deploy the six-wheeled rover to explore the lunar terrain.
Among the things the mission will pay close attention to are abrasive particles known as lunar dust, which pose a significant challenge to human colonization of the moon.
The Chandrayaan-2 will be carried into space by the GSLV Mark II rocket, and is scheduled to launch from an island in the Bay of Bengal in March 2018.
India will carry out the final testing phase for the spacecraft in the coming weeks. The program's budget for the mission is relatively small, at only 93 million dollars.