India is all set to launch its Chandrayaan-2 mission to the moon in April and reports suggest that not only this mission will be cheaper than that of NASA’s Apollo mission but will also be more powerful.
This is not the first time India is carrying out a lunar mission, but the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) claimed that this would be the first time when they would attempt to send a lander and rover on the moon’s surface.
The low cost was compared to the sci-fi Hollywood movie ‘Interstellar’ that costed $165 million, whereas Chandrayaan-2 costs $123 million. The low cost is due to a process ‘simplification’ that the ISRO’s chairman K Sivan described as, “Simplifying the system, miniaturizing the complex big system, strict quality control and maximizing output from a product make our space missions frugal and cost-effective.”
“We keep strict vigil on each and every stage of development of a spacecraft or a rocket and, therefore, we are able to avoid wastage of products, which helps us minimize the mission cost,” Sivan told The Times of India.
India set to step on moon for the first time
According to Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, which is in-charge of space affairs, claimed that this mission contains ‘more power than the Apollo missions by NASA’. Also being cost effective, ISRO’s budget is almost 20 times less than NASA’s.
“Chandrayaan-2 is one of the most remarkable ISRO missions of 2018 and it will be a world event,” Singh told NDTV. He also believes that this mission has many such capabilities that will give data that ‘may open up possibilities of future habitation of the moon’.
The mission will contain an orbiter that will fly above moon’s surface capturing 3D map of it, a lander that will carry the rover and will get an up close view of the moon’s crust and mantle, and lastly, a rover that will travel on its own exploring the lunar rocks and soil.
For the first time ever, the rover will land on moon’s South Pole and is expected to last for 14 Earth days on the moon. Singh believes that it will observe moon like never before, “Chandrayaan-2 will be a breakthrough mission not only for India but for the entire world. The mission will make every Indian proud.”