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"Russia will provide the lander and the
rover is being built by our scientists and engineers,"
the state-run space agency said in a statement
here Aug 30.
Chandrayaan-2 will be launched onboard the indigenous
geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV)
from the country's spaceport at Sriharikota in
Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km north-east of Chennai.
The spacecraft weighs 2.6 tonnes at lift-off
with the orbiter at 1.4 tonnes and lander 1.2
tonnes.
A national committee of experts headed by former
ISRO chairman U.R. Rao finalised the five instruments
to be flown on the orbiter, including two improved
versions of the payloads that were used in the
first lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1, which was
launched October 2008 on a 10-month voyage.
"The committee has recommended five scientific
payloads keeping in view its weight and power.
Though it has favoured two payloads on the rover,
their inclusion will be determined after considering
the mission constraints such as power and weight,"
the statement pointed out.
The five proposed instruments are: Large area
soft X-ray spectrometer and solar X-ray monitor
to map major elements on the lunar surface, and
L and S band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to
probe the lunar surface for the presence of different
constituents, including water ice and the terrain
mapping camera-2 will prepare a three-dimensional
map for studying the lunar mineralogy and geology.
"SAR is expected to provide further evidence
confirming the presence of water ice below the
shadowed regions of the moon," the statement
noted.
The imaging infra-red spectrometer is intended
to map the lunar surface over a wide wavelength
range for studying minerals, water molecules and
hydroxyl and the neutral mass spectrometer to
study the lunar exosphere.
The two instruments on the rover are laser induced
breakdown spectroscope and Alpha particle induced
x-ray spectroscope.
"Both instruments will conduct elemental
analysis of the lunar surface near the landing
site," the statement SAID.
(IANS)
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