The Indian Space Research Organisation today said the Chandrayaan-2 mission is on schedule and flight models are undergoing various tests. In Chandrayaan-2, the country’s second mission to the moon, ISRO is planning to rover to explore the lunar surface. “It is on schedule. We have to find out whether it is in March or not,” ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar told presspersons here in response to a question.

Speaking after the successful orbiting of 31 satellites, including weather observation Cartosat-2 Series craft, by the PSLV-C40, he said the Chandrayan-II satellite was getting ready at the ISRO Satellite Centre. The flight models were going through various levels of tests, he added. It would comprise an orbiter, lander and six-wheeled rover, which would move around the landing site and instruments on it would send back data that would be useful in analysing the lunar soil.

After reaching the lunar orbit, the lander housing the rover would separate from the orbiter. After a controlled descent, the lander would soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy the rover.

Director of ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu, S Somanath, said tests related to Chandrayan-II were underway at the centre also. What we are trying to do is to prove the ability to do a soft landing (the rover). Tests are on to demonstrate soft landing in a simulated way,” he said.

Terming it as a “wonderful task”, he said “we are trying to complete it in a short span of time and that is going on right now". To a query on whether there was possibility of ISRO carrying out a manned space mission, Kumar said, “The possibility was always there for taking up such a mission but the government has to decide by giving resources.”

On the future launches to be taken up by ISRO in 2018, Kumar said the next launch would be a communication satellite. The GSLV-MkII first stage had been assembled and had completed integration. “They are going through process and it is targeted sometime next month (for launch),” he said. Beyond that, there would be MkIII and another PSLV, which would carry navigation satellite IRNSS-1I.

“We also have a number of launches, almost every month one launch, and we are going to work towards that,” Kumar, who is retiring later this month, said. “We are trying to push the launch envelope to such an extent so that we have three of GSLV category and nine of PSLV category (this year). It is still quite a tough task,” he said.

Referring to the unsuccessful launch of IRNSS-1H on August 31 last year, he said it was a peculiar case. “Very marginal deviation created a problem. Notwithstanding that, what we did is we went through a rigorous process of analysing and have made the system more robust,” the ISRO chief said.

Kumar said a team was formed to identify the cause of the incident. Various simulations and review processes were undertaken by the scientists. “Each time you encounter a problem, you come out of it. You need not worry about failure. If you have not failed, it means you have not tried hard enough. So, we need not worry about setbacks,” he said.

Kumar said launch vehicle technology was complex and in spite of hundreds of successes, there can still be a failure. “That is why it is called as risky business. So what we need to clearly understand is to each time make the system more and more robust, learn the deficiencies and keep improving”, he added.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) Director K Sivan, who has been named Kumar's successor, termed as ‘excellent’ today’s launch and credited the entire ISRO team for the success. He also noted that many international customers had approached the ISRO for the launch immediately after the PSLV-C39's failure, and it showed the confidence they had in the agency’s workhorse launch vehicle. “We will be definitely meeting their expectations in the future also. This mission is definitely showing the green flag for the exciting high-profile missions in 2018 such as the Chandryaan 2, GSLV mk 3 then GSAT-11,” he said.

Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, P Kunhikrishnan, lauded ISRO scientists for opening the year with a success. This mission proved the effectiveness of all corrective measures taken in PSLV C-40 “making the vehicle more robust and reliable,” he said. Multiple projects were underway at the spaceport to ramp up ISRO’s launch capabilities. The second vehicle assembly building project was in the final phase of completion and it would meet launch requirements from the second launch pad, he said.

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