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The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning 2nd moon mission Chandrayaan-II in 20I3. Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) is joining with ISRO for development of Chandrayaan-II Lander / Rover. It consists of the spacecraft and a landing platform with the moon rover. The platform with the rover will detach itself off after the spacecraft reaches its orbit above the moon, and land on lunar surface. The landing site is yet to be identified but will be on the far side of the moon, with South Pole Aitkin (SPA) basin being a prime candidate. Imagery from Chandrayaan-1 will be used to select the site.

At a Glance

  • Launch Date: 2013
  • Launcher: GSLV
  • Total Weight: 2,457 kg
    • Inter Module Adopter: 40 kg
    • Orbiter (with propellant at liftoff): 1317 kg
      • Dry Mass: 487 kg (includes 50 kg payload)
      • Propellant: 830 kg
    • Lander + Rover (includes 680 kg of propellant): 1,200 kg
    • Lander + Rover (on lunar surface): 420 kg

The total weight of Chandrayaan-2 at launch will be 2,457 kg, this including the lander and the orbiter. The orbiter and lander will be connected by an inter module adapter. The mass of the orbiter will be 1,317 kg, of which 830 kg will be propellant for the orbiter and 487 kg will be the actual dry mass of the orbiter. Of 487 kg dry mass of the orbiter, the actual scientific payloads will weigh 50 kg. Only 10 kg of payload space will be open to international space agencies for their payloads.

ISRO has gone ahead with the plant soft-land the rover on the lunar surface. The rover will be inside the rover-module of the lunar lander. As explained above the lander will be connected to the orbiter at launch. The total mass of the lander will be 1,200 kg. Out of the 1,200 kg lander, 680 kg will be the propellant used for thrusters on the lunar-lander for soft landing. On the lunar surface the lander will weigh 420 kg including the rover and rover-module. Once the lander has landed on the lunar surface the 2 rovers, one Russian and another India will then emerge from the rover-module onto the surface of the moon.

Many of the scientific instruments on the lander/rover have already been finalized. The rover will drill into the lunar soil and obtain samples for analysis. The Regolith Evolved Gas Analyzer (REGA) and Mass Spectrometer will analyze the composition of Lunar soil. Two instruments, a Tunable Diode Laser and a Laser Induced ion Mass Spectrometer will look for the presence of water in the polar shadowed region of the moon.

Orbiter

  • The instrument package on board the orbiter is yet to be finalized. It could consist of Terrain mapping camera, 400-4000nm hyper spectral Imager, Low energy X-ray spectrometer (CCD-array) and Gamma ray, neutron, alpha spectrometer. Using the experience gained from Chandrayaan-1, particularly the excessive radiation heating of the spacecraft encountered, ISRO revised the design of Chandrayaan-II. ISRO is contemplating the use of nuclear power for the lunar orbiter in collaboration with Bhaba Atomic Research Center. They are thinking of powering some parts of Chandrayaan-II with nuclear power and it will power the spacecraft when it revolves around the dark side of the moon.

    • Lander / Rover

    • The lander will carry two rovers: A Russian rover that will carry the major exploration instruments, and an Indian made rover, primarily designed to give Indian space scientists experience in robotics and precise remote control over planetary distances, which will separately undertake chemical analysis of the lunar soil. The rovers will cover around 50 meters every day and send experimental data to the orbiting spacecraft for over three months. The rover's life would be about a few weeks. Prior to the launch, the ISRO would study its movement on a simulated terrain of the moon.
    • Russian Rover: It will be more sophisticated and maneuverable, will do the bulk of lunar exploration. The Russians have handed over the design and specifications of its rover for fabrication of its traction in association with ISRO using facilities in IITs like Kharagpur. It is yet not clear which of the two rovers will analyze subsurface soil using a drill, a capability being incorporated following the detection of water on the moon.
      • The rover will have six wheels each driven by an independent electrical motor. Four of the wheels will also be capable of independent steering. A total of 10 electrical motors will be used for traction and steering. Kinematic traction control will enable the rover to negotiate the rough lunar terrain using independent steering provided on four of its wheels.
    • Indian Rover: A significant part of the Indian rover, including its communication package, is being fabricated in Kerala. Using its rover, ISRO scientists hope to hone their deep space communication technology (transmission of commands to the payloads and reception of data collected by them) for future planetary exploration. Chemical analysis of the lunar soil is a secondary aim of the Indian rover. It has to operate at one-sixth of the earth's gravity. Although we will not be able to simulate the atmospheric conditions, we very much want to see how the rover moves on a surface with very less friction.
      • IIT Kanpur started working on the project in March 2009 and is scheduled to complete it by September 2010 when the rover traction system will be handed over to ISRO for final testing and evaluation. IIT Kanpur is developing three subsystems to provide mobility to the rover to be placed on the moon by the lander. The components being developed are: stereophonic camera based 3D vsion, kinematic traction control, and control and motor dynamics of the rover's six wheels. The stereo vision cameras will provide the ground team controlling the rovers a 3D view of the surrounding terrain.
      • ISRO is setting up a center in Bangalore for testing of the Chandrayaan-II rovers and lander, which will have a test area mimicking the lunar terrain and conditions. The Russian rover too will be tested there before being fitted to Chandrayaan-II. Because of recent speculation that the dense packing of 11 payloads in the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter led to its overheating and subsequent loss, ISRO scientists are less keen to invite payloads from outside space agencies or universities.
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