Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Apr 18: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman, Dr K Sivan today called on Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space Dr Jitendra Singh and briefed him about the upcoming Moon Mission “Chandrayaan-2”, expected to be launched from Sriharikota around October-November this year.
Dr Jitendra Singh complemented Dr Sivan for a series of recent achievements of ISRO and said, it is a matter of pride that even though some of the other countries like USA and Russia had started their Space journey several years ahead of India, yet today India has overtaken them in several areas and, the inputs and information obtained by Indian Space missions are now being utilised by NASA and other premier Space centres across the world. He said, even though USA had landed a human being on the surface of moon, way back in late 1960s, but it is India’s mission Chandrayaan-1 which first discovered the presence of water, and hence a possibility of life, on the surface of moon. Chandrayaan-2, with a land-rover and a probe, will be a follow -up of the earlier Chandrayaan mission, he added.
Giving details about the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 mission, Dr Sivan informed that the total cost of the mission is about Rs. 800 crore, which includes Rs. 200 crore as the cost of launching and Rs. 600 crore for the satellite. This cost, he said, is almost half of the cost of around Rs. 1500 crore, which would have been otherwise incurred if the same mission had to be launched from a foreign launching site.
Chandrayaan-2 will be equipped with a land – rover and probe, which will descend on the surface of the moon, from where they will collect samples of soil, water, etc to carry back home for detailed analysis and research. To this extent, this will be the first-of-its-kind moon mission.
Dr Jitendra Singh not only appreciated Chandrayaan-2 for being a cost – effective mission compared to similar other missions being undertaken from several other foreign countries but also lauded it for being totally indigenous in its expertise, manufacturing and material, which makes it an appropriate example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” Mantra.
Another ISRO Mission, GSLV Mk III-D2, scheduled for June-July this year, also came up for discussion.
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