<p> The ISRO has started flight integration activity for its next lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 and scientists are currently carrying out tests for the lander and the rover that will explore the moon.<br /><br />Officials said the spacecraft launch, on board GSLV-Mk II, is planned for March and many new technologies have been developed indigenously to achieve the mission requirements.<br /><br />Chandrayaan-2, India's second mission to the Moon, is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission nine years ago. This spacecraft is a composite model consisting of orbiter, lander and rover.<br /><br />According to the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency, unlike Chandrayaan-1, wherein an impact probe crash-landed on the surface of the moon, Chandrayaan-2 will soft-land its lander with the rover on the lunar surface to conduct the next level of scientific studies.<br /><br />"Things are going on. The orbiter is getting ready. Flight integration activity is going on, and a series of tests are planned for lander and rover. They are all in progress and we are working towards the first quarter (of 2018) launch of Chandrayaan-2," ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar told PTI.<br /><br />Officials said rover flight systems test include "soil mixing exercise" and mobility test to evaluate the rover's wheel-soil interaction.<br /><br />According to them, the lander configuration has been finalised to meet soft and safe landing at the identified site, as also payload configuration and interfaces with the lander.<br /><br />Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had also established a lunar terrain test facility for conducting lander leg drop tests.<br /><br />"It is a totally Indian mission; no other collaboration," Kiran Kumar said.<br />"It (Chandrayaan-2) differs from the previous one (Chandrayaan-1) in the sense that in the last one, we had moon impact probe that descended on the moon in an uncontrolled manner, whereas this (Chandrayaan-2) will carry a lander, which will descend on the surface of the moon in a controlled manner," he said.<br /><br />After the lander lands on the moon, the rover will come out and it will do some in-situ observations and we will be able to get these observations through radio contact, Kiran Kumar said.</p>
<p> The ISRO has started flight integration activity for its next lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 and scientists are currently carrying out tests for the lander and the rover that will explore the moon.<br /><br />Officials said the spacecraft launch, on board GSLV-Mk II, is planned for March and many new technologies have been developed indigenously to achieve the mission requirements.<br /><br />Chandrayaan-2, India's second mission to the Moon, is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission nine years ago. This spacecraft is a composite model consisting of orbiter, lander and rover.<br /><br />According to the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency, unlike Chandrayaan-1, wherein an impact probe crash-landed on the surface of the moon, Chandrayaan-2 will soft-land its lander with the rover on the lunar surface to conduct the next level of scientific studies.<br /><br />"Things are going on. The orbiter is getting ready. Flight integration activity is going on, and a series of tests are planned for lander and rover. They are all in progress and we are working towards the first quarter (of 2018) launch of Chandrayaan-2," ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar told PTI.<br /><br />Officials said rover flight systems test include "soil mixing exercise" and mobility test to evaluate the rover's wheel-soil interaction.<br /><br />According to them, the lander configuration has been finalised to meet soft and safe landing at the identified site, as also payload configuration and interfaces with the lander.<br /><br />Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had also established a lunar terrain test facility for conducting lander leg drop tests.<br /><br />"It is a totally Indian mission; no other collaboration," Kiran Kumar said.<br />"It (Chandrayaan-2) differs from the previous one (Chandrayaan-1) in the sense that in the last one, we had moon impact probe that descended on the moon in an uncontrolled manner, whereas this (Chandrayaan-2) will carry a lander, which will descend on the surface of the moon in a controlled manner," he said.<br /><br />After the lander lands on the moon, the rover will come out and it will do some in-situ observations and we will be able to get these observations through radio contact, Kiran Kumar said.</p>