India to launch 'Chandrayaan-2' by 2013

Bangalore, Jan 28 (ANI): Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief K. Radhakrishnan on Wednesday said the configuration for the new moon mission 'Chandrayaan-2' is being finalized and added that it would be launched by 2013.

Chandrayaan-2, which will be a joint effort between ISRO and Russia, will consist of a lander and a rover for a soft land on moon.

The rover will move on the surface of the moon and pick up samples of rocks and soil and conduct a chemical analysis on it. The data would then be sent to the spacecraft orbiting above.

"We are finalizing the configuration for Chandrayaan-2. This mission will have an orbiter, which will carry the lander and a rover. The lander will bring the rover to the surface of the moon and during the time it is there, (it) will take some samples to be analyzed in the orbiter and back to the earth. In the orbiter we will have certain instruments, we are finalizing which are those to be put there.

It is about 50 kilograms of mass. There is a scientific team which is looking at the requirements and possibilities and also .... from Chandrayaan-1 experiment," said Radhakrishnan, on the sidelines of the launch of a book titled 'Mission Moon - Exploring the Moon with Chandrayaan-1' here.

Space scientists present there delved on colonization of the moon.

"The lunar environment neither has an atmosphere nor a magnetic field, so the radiation from the sun can directly hit us and severely damage our cells, which can cause cancer.

So you need to get into areas where you can avoid radiation; therefore, the concept of tunnel came in. We are trying to look at tunnels where one can get in and live. Though virtually from a big civilization we will all become cavemen again," said Kasturi Rangan, former ISRO Chairman.

ISRO launched Chandrayaan-1 on October 22, 2008, joining the Asian space race in the footsteps of l China and reinforcing its claim to be considered a global power.

The cuboid shaped Chandrayaan-1 carried the U.S. space agency NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, or M3, which found water molecules all over the moon's surface. The findings were further corroborated by three other reports. (ANI)