Kolkata, July 04: ISRO is not getting enough
scientific solutions for its Mars mission which it proposes to
launch in 2013, its chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Saturday.
"Not enough scientific solutions are coming through,"
Nair told newsmen when asked about status of the Mars mission
programme.
Describing the Mars mission as a "tremendous challenge",
he said it would require new scientific and technological
solutions including placing a spacecraft in low altitude orbit
around the planet and development of sensitive instruments to
monitor radiation, electric and magnetic fields and energetic
particles in the Martian field.
He said the ISRO's manned mission to space was expected
to be launched in 2015 and it would take another five to six
years before a manned lunar mission could be launched.
In reply to a question, he said the biggest impediment to
the Chandrayan-II project was managing the impact of putting
the lander and the moon rover on the lunar surface.
Stating that the ISRO had earned a revenue of Rs 1,000
crore during 2008-09, he said about 15 to 20 per cent of it
came from hiring out PSLVs to launch foreign satellites.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, July 04, 2009, 19:28