Chandrayan-2 launch before March 2018: ISRO Chief
30 October, Bengaluru
After the success of Chandrayan-1, IndianSpace Research Organisation (ISRO) is in the process of integratingthe orbitor, while testing on the crucial lander and rover was inthe final stages ISRO Chief A S Kiran Kumar Monday said.
He said the orbitor was almost ready and the integration processhad began and ISRO was working on Lander, rober and otherinstruments that are being tested and will be ready for deployment.
”The launch into the Lunar Orbit will happen in first quarter of2018”, he said.
Kumar said total integration plans are in place and we arelooking at launch of Chandrayan 2 on time as final tests will happenin December this year.
Meanwhile, the ISRO Chief said the failure of PSLV-C39 carryingIRNSS-1H early this year was a combination of technical andenvironmental problems.
Speaking to reporters to announce the organising of Indian SpaceProgramme, an international programme on ‘Trends and Opportunitiesfor the Space Industries’ that will be held on November 21 and 22 inNew Delhi, Kumar said the work on replacing IRNSS-1H was going onbut ISRO was working on different projects to involve and expandthe Indian Space research and manufacturing space to meet growingdemand of projects within in India and tap international market.
He said the C39 failure was one after 59 successful launchestaken up by ISRO and the space industry had to be prepared forrisks.
The ISRO Chief, to a question bringing new private players toniche space industry being risky, said, ”Space programmes arealways risky but ISRO has been working towards a total success inspace launches and achieved it. The private industry looking forexpertise in space programme will not expect a ‘free cart’ travel.We in ISRO will ensure that this industry will meet the strictstandards, but hand hold this sector,” he said.
To another question, Kumar said ISRO would be able to meet thepressure of multiple launches of multiple satellites. ”We arefocused towards increasing our frequency of launches from 8 to 10 ayear to 18 from coming years. But this will depend on the our demandplaced on supply chain on Indian private space industry,” he said.
Kumar said while the space agency had already given projectsto the private industry to satellite building, the sector getprepared for independent launch of launch vehicles would depend ongovernment clearances. ”This is subject to various clearances butthere are some industries coming up and have put up in their website that they are capable of launching satellites,” he added.
He said there was lot of work to be done by Indian privateindustry in the Space sector with demand for internationalconstellations growing fast. Satellite building, making various subsystems for India and ISRO, besides capturing the internationaldemand should be looked at by the Indian industry.