After the immense success of India’s first Mars mission. It’s
time to look more closely at the bodies closer to us. Namely the moon. Although
this may seem a step down from Mars. One must keep in mind the window required
for sending inter planetary probes.
The foundation for the Chandrayaan 2 was laid in 2007 after
the completion of Chandrayaan 1 when the representatives of ISRO and Roskosmos
(Russian Federal Space Agency) signed an agreement for the two agencies to work
together.
It was initially planned that India would make the orbiter
and rover while Roskosmos would provide the lander. Although ISRO finalized the
payload for Chandrayaan 2 on schedule the mission was postpones and rescheduled
to 2016 because Russia was unable to supply the lander in time. Roskosmos
withdrew later due to the failure of the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars
the reason being technical aspects connected with the phobos-grunt were also
used in lunar missions and needed to be reviewed.
When Russia cited its inability to make the lander in 2015,
India decided to develop the mission independently.
The mission will consist of 3 main components. The Orbiter,
the Lander and the Rover. The payload will be launched on the GSLV Mk-II.
The launch is planned to happen in 2017 from Satish Dhawan
Space Centre, Sriharikota.
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