ISRO eyeing to launch Chandrayaan-II rover in Moon's south

Seeking to create history with India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2, space agency ISRO Friday said it will attempt to launch a rover in the lunar South Pole, a uncharted territory so far.

"Till date nobody has made an attempt to land a rover in the region. It has been only near the equator (of the Moon).We will be attempting to launch the rover (of Chandrayaan 2) in lunar South Pole for the first time", Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Sivan said here.

Earlier this week, ISRO has said all three modules of the moon mission -- Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan) -- were getting ready for the launch scheduled in July and the lander was expected to touch down on the lunar surface in early September.

ISRO has kept the launch window for the mission onboard GSLV MK-III rocket from July 9 to July 16 with an expected Moon landing on September 6, Sivan told reporters here.

The Orbiter and Lander modules will be interfaced mechanically and stacked together as an integrated module and accommodated inside the launch vehicle. The Rover is housed inside the Lander.

On ISRO's proposed Aditya-L1 mission, Sivan said currently scientists were exploring possibilities to study more about Sun. "To learn about Sun orbit, we will be sending Aditya-L1 during the first half of next year", he said.

The mission is aimed at observing the solar corona, the outer layers of the Sun.

The satellite would be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1 (Lagrangian point 1) of the Sun-Earth system so that it has the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses. The L1 is 1.5 million kms from the Earth.

On a question about tracking cyclone Fani, he said, with the details provided by ISRO, officials were able to forecast the landfall area and this helped in taking precautionary measures in advance.

"Due to tracking conditions, we have been able to minimise the impact caused in terms of casualties...," he said.

Cyclone 'Fani' hit Odisha Friday, packing rain and windstorm that gusted up to 175 kmph, leaving at least three people dead, blowing away thatched houses, and swamping towns and villages.