Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-I, the country’s space scientists are planning to conquer new frontiers by sending a robot to the moon in 2012 and a spacecraft to Mars the following year, which may also see an Indian astronaut in space.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has also lined up a slew of other missions, including landing a spacecraft on an asteroid and sending a probe to fly past a comet.
Isro plans to send an Indian astronaut in space on board a Russian mission in 2013 and follow it up by sending two Indian astronauts on a seven-day mission on an indigenously-developed rocket in 2015.
India’s mission to Mars was at a conceptual stage right now, Isro Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry function to felicitate the Chandrayaan-I team. “Next year we will be able to finalise and by 2013 it can take off,” he said.
Nair said the current Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, used to put communications satellites into space, would be used to launch the probe to Mars.
Isro also plans to launch a sequel to Chandrayaan-I which will entail landing a rover robot on the moon by 2012. The lunar rover will be built in collaboration with Russia.
“The design for Chandrayaan-II is ready,” Nair said.
Last year, Isro had sent to space a capsule which was recovered after being kept in the orbit for 22 days. The Space Recovery Experiment (SRE) was seen as a technology demonstrator for future manned missions.
