India’s second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, would be launched on July 15, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Sivan announced on June 12, 2019. The landing on the moon near the South Pole, an uncharted territory so far, would be on September 6 or 7, Sivan told reporters. The launch would take place at 2.51 a.m. on board the GSL V MK-III vehicle from the spaceport of Sriharikota.

The spacecraft, with a mass of 3.8 tonnes, has three modules-Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan). Sivan said Orbiter would have eight payloads, Lander three and Rover two. The mission cost of Chandrayaan-2 with regard to the satellite was Rs. 603 crore, he noted. The cost of GSL V MK- III is Rs. 375 crore. According to the ISRO, Orbiter, with scientific payloads, would orbit around the moon. Lander would softland on the moon at a predetermined site and deploy Rover. The scientific payloads onboard Orbiter, Lander and Rover are expected to perform mineralogical and elemental studies of the lunar surface.

The Orbiter and Lander modules would be interfaced mechanically and stacked together as an integrated module and accommodated inside the GSL V MK-III launch vehicle. Rover is housed inside Lander. After the launch into an earth-bound orbit by GSL V MK-III, the integrated module would reach the moon orbit using the orbiter propulsion module and subsequently, Lander would separate from Orbiter and softland at the predetermined site, close to the lunar South Pole, the ISRO said. Rover would roll out for carrying out scientific experiments on the lunar surface, it said, noting that instruments were also mounted on Lander and Orbiter for carrying out scientific experiments. Chandrayaan-2 is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-l mission, which was launched about 10 years ago.

Chandrayaan-1 had 11 payloads-five from India, three from Europe, two from the US and one from Bulgaria and the mission had the credit for discovery of water on the lunar surface.
The 1.4 tonne spacecraft was launched using PSL V and the orbiter had orbited 100 Ian from the lunar surface.