New Delhi: After a successful maiden moon
mission, India will initiate the process for its sequel Chandrayaan-II, President Pratibha Patil said today.
"...activities towards the Chandrayaan-2 Mission will be
initiated," she said in her address to the joint sitting of
both Houses of Parliament here.
Under Chandrayaan-II, space scientists plan to land two
robotic rovers on the surface of the moon that would conduct
experiments on the lunar soil and send the data back on earth.
Patil said moves were already afoot to further develop
the next generation satellite launch vehicle GSLV-Mark III
with a capacity to put four tonne satellites in orbit.
Currently, the Indian space agency ISRO's Geosynchronous
Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) has the capability to launch
2.5 tonne satellites.
The President said that the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) has plans for the flight test of the
GSLV-D3 launch vehicle with indigenous cryogenic stage, and
launch the Cartosat-2B, INSAT-3D and Resourcesat-2 satellites
in the near future.
"The space programme continued to provide societal
services to the nation in the areas of tele-medicine,
tele-education and village resource centres," Patil said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 22, 2010, 18:17