AHMEDABAD: India has decided on its second journey to the moon—Chandrayaan-2—without Russian participation. The tentative date for lift-off is 2015 from the Sriharikota facility. This was announced by space scientist S V S Murty of the Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory's (PRL) planetary exploration group during a conference on Monday.The original mission envisaged the nearly Rs 425-crore Chandrayaan-2 having an indigenous rocket and a rover with a Russian lander. But Murty said, "The Russian lander is being replaced by an indigenous lunar lander." The decision comes after the failure of a Russian space mission, Phobos-Grunt in January 2012, which was supposed to test the lander.Murthy said that the replacement of the Russian lander with an indigenous one would call for a change in the mission profile as well. The lander is being designed and developed by the Space Applications Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad. Its preliminary configuration study has been completed.The orbiter will have five payloads, while the six-wheeled rover has two. The orbiter will operate from an altitude of 200 km above the moon's surface. "Chandrayaan-2 will carry out an intensive investigation of a localized area of the moon having high scientific value," he said.The rocket will be the three-stage Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine. All the payloads of Chandrayaan-2 are indigenous in contrast to Chandrayaan-1 which had six foreign payloads and five from India.
Designing and building the lander and the rover will surely take time, admits Goswami. Moreover, ISRO has yet to certify the rocket to be used in this mission, which is expected to make its first test flight next month after two successive failures in 2010. The vehicle must make at least two successful flights before it can be trusted for launching Chandrayaan-2, says Goswami.
AHMEDABAD: India's second lunar mission will be undertaken with Russian participation though it has got delayed, a top official of an ISRO lab said today amidst reports that 'Chandrayaan 2' will be a solo mission. Chandrayaan 2, an Indo-Russian joint project, is going ahead but it has got delayed, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) Director J N Goswami said here. Ahmedabad-based PRL is part of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). "The Indo-Russian mission is going ahead. The project has got delayed. Currently, we are whole-heartedly working for the Mars project scheduled for November. The moon mission, for the time being, has got delayed," Goswami told PTI. Roskomos, Russia's space agency, and ISRO had signed an agreement on November 12, 2007. Under the pact, Roskomos had assumed the vital responsibility of providing both the orbiter and the rover, while its Indian counterpart was to design and build the lander for the ambitious mission. "The failure of Roskosmos Phobos-Grunt mission (in December 2011) has, for the time-being, delayed the moon mission," he said, adding the construction of lander for the combined mission has been delayed. Chandrayaan 2 will have five primary payloads on the orbiter, two of which will be improvements on instruments that were onboard Chandrayaan 1, launched in October, 2008. Also, the rover will carry two additional instruments. Chandrayaan 2, originally scheduled in 2015, will be launched by a GSLV-powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine. Reports had appeared in a section of media quoting a scientist of PRL S V S Murty as saying India will go it alone in the Chandrayaan 2 mission. Despite repeated efforts, he was not available for comments on the issue.PRL is involved in designing indigenous payloads for Chandrayaan 2.
Okay, try this one instead:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-to-go-solo-on-second-lunar-mission/articleshow/18124826.cmsHere's also another link from Nature.com:http://blogs.nature.com/news/2013/01/india-may-go-to-the-moon-alone.htmlQuoteDesigning and building the lander and the rover will surely take time, admits Goswami. Moreover, ISRO has yet to certify the rocket to be used in this mission, which is expected to make its first test flight next month after two successive failures in 2010. The vehicle must make at least two successful flights before it can be trusted for launching Chandrayaan-2, says Goswami.Hey Antriksh, any way you can get a pic of the ISRO lander design? I'd really love to know what it looks like.
Hey Antriksh, any way you can get a pic of the ISRO lander design? I'd really love to know what it looks like.
Quote from: sanman on 01/22/2013 06:13 pmHey Antriksh, any way you can get a pic of the ISRO lander design? I'd really love to know what it looks like.Probably a little too early for that. But try to imagine something with legs...
Not airbags then?
Quote from: Blackstar on 01/22/2013 08:14 pmQuote from: sanman on 01/22/2013 06:13 pmHey Antriksh, any way you can get a pic of the ISRO lander design? I'd really love to know what it looks like.Probably a little too early for that. But try to imagine something with legs...Not airbags then?
Quote from: Stan Black on 01/22/2013 08:35 pmNot airbags then?Would you want to use airbags in such low gravity?
Quote from: Stan Black on 01/22/2013 08:35 pmQuote from: Blackstar on 01/22/2013 08:14 pmQuote from: sanman on 01/22/2013 06:13 pmHey Antriksh, any way you can get a pic of the ISRO lander design? I'd really love to know what it looks like.Probably a little too early for that. But try to imagine something with legs...Not airbags then?For Indian lander, it would be a powered decent using one of the following strategies that are under study Soft landing on Moon1) by initiating the powered braking from the lunar parking orbit itself and directly landing.2) by initiating powered braking from an intermediate orbit and directly landing.3) by splitting the powered braking into two phases:(a) powered horizontal braking phase that ends at a low altitude with a small vertical velocity and a zero horizontal velocity (b) a vertical descent phase ensuring the required touchdown velocity.
Is it possible to soft land direct on the moon ( without entering any lunar orbit) ?
Quote from: antriksh on 01/23/2013 03:41 amQuote from: Stan Black on 01/22/2013 08:35 pmQuote from: Blackstar on 01/22/2013 08:14 pmQuote from: sanman on 01/22/2013 06:13 pmHey Antriksh, any way you can get a pic of the ISRO lander design? I'd really love to know what it looks like.Probably a little too early for that. But try to imagine something with legs...Not airbags then?For Indian lander, it would be a powered decent using one of the following strategies that are under study Soft landing on Moon1) by initiating the powered braking from the lunar parking orbit itself and directly landing.2) by initiating powered braking from an intermediate orbit and directly landing.3) by splitting the powered braking into two phases:(a) powered horizontal braking phase that ends at a low altitude with a small vertical velocity and a zero horizontal velocity (b) a vertical descent phase ensuring the required touchdown velocity.Is it possible to soft land direct on the moon ( without entering any lunar orbit) ?
^ Then, why is "direct descent" not an option, under consideration for the Indian Mission?