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 m...