Chandrayaan II will be ready by 2013: Expert

Analysis of minerals image may take about three and a half years: Annadurai

Speaking at the 10th edition of the ‘Scale 2009’ organised by Indian Institute of Material Management (IIMM) on Thursday, Dr Annadurai said, presence of helium, calcium, magnesium, iron, silicon and other particles were captured by M3. “Each picture will take about four to five months to ascertain the contents. It could be multiple minerals as some contents are overlapping indicating the presence of different particles. Once the minerals are identified, it will be crosschecked with other instruments for confirmation.”
He said, the spin-off technologies of Chandrayaan I will be used on earth as smaller satellites. 

Soft landing

Dr Annadurai, said, “The vision for Chandrayaan II mission is to technologically touch the moon’s surface by softly landing on it. Following continuous communication with the earth, it will also collect samples from the moon’s surface. Chandrayaan II has been scheduled to be completed by 2013 with an outlay of Rs 425 crore and the planning for the mission is already in progress”. 

Annadurai said, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will be launched in October by the United States. “The LCROSS will hit or slam the moon’s surface. It will search for the presence of water, ice in the shadowed craters at the moon’s south pole,” he said.

Defence technologies

Bharat Electronics Limited, Research and Development(R &D)  Director I V Sharma said at present 60 per cent of defence technologies amounting to Rs 9,000 crore were being imported.

He said, R&D was neglected in India with 0.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product being spent on it as against 2 per cent of the GDP spent in other developed countries. Stating that the country’s 80 per cent of defence technologies should indigenous, he said, India should aim at being one of the top few countries in defence electronics technology.