India Presses on, Announces Chandrayaan-3 Moon Mission
RandomFactor writes:
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India's national space agency, has announced plans for a Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon. One of at least 25 missions ISRO plans for 2020.
The chairman of India's space agency, K Sivan, said work was going "smoothly" on the Chandrayaan-3 unmanned mission.
He said the country was aiming to launch the mission in 2020 but that it "may spill over" to 2021.
If successful, it would make India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and boost its credentials as a low-cost space power.
Chandrayaan-2 was India's last attempt at a moon landing, but crashed during its September attempt to land on the lunar south pole.
Mr Sivan said the new mission would land in the same area, and would "have a lander, rover and propulsion module like its predecessor". The new equipment is set to cost some $35m (26m), while the full cost of the mission is set to be significantly more.
Jitendra Singh, junior minister for the department of space, has said the new mission will be "quite economical".
The mission will cut costs by leveraging the Chandrayan 2 Orbiter India already has in place that communicates with the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN).
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