India’s Mission to the Moon - Chandrayaan I and II
Brief description

Chandrayaan-I
In Chandrayaan-I, the lunar craft would be launched using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The remote sensing satellite will weigh 1304 kg (590 kg initial orbit mass and 504 kg dry mass) and carry high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain water ice. Lunar craft would orbit around moon 100 km from moon surface.

Chandrayaan-II
ISRO is also planning a second version of Chandrayaan named: Chandrayaan-II. According to ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, "The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) hopes to land a motorized rover on the moon in 2010 or 2011, as a part of its second Chandrayaan mission. The rover will be designed to move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do in situ chemical analysis and send the data to the mother-spacecraft Chandrayaan-II, which will be orbiting above. Chandrayaan-II will transmit the data to the ground.

Video - 1

The following video gives lot of information about the mission objectives, how the lunar craft is going to be launched, the trajectory it is going to follow before placing it in the orbit and the data we are going to get about the moon from the payloads on board.

Watch ISRO Video on Chandrayaan 2008

http://videos.nighi.com/video/video/show?id=549954%3AVideo%3A31915


Video - 2

This video gives details about the launch vehicle, the lunar craft, complete trajectory and the objectives of the mission. Also, The video has the vision 2020 with some animations about Chandrayaan – II, a rover on moon and manned mission to the moon in 2020.

Watch the Video on Chandrayaan - India’s Mission to the Moon

http://videos.nighi.com/video/video/show?id=549954%3AVideo%3A31918