After being in the news for its ambitious Chandrayaan 2 mission, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Wednesday released an image of a crater on the lunar surface clicked by the orbiter of Chandrayaan 2.
"Have a look of 3D view of a crater imaged by TMC-2 of #Chandrayaan2. TMC-2 provides images at 5m spatial resolution & stereo triplets (fore, nadir and aft views) for preparing DEM of the complete lunar surface," the space agency tweeted.
ISRO is also preparing for its next moon mission called Chandrayaan 3, according to reports.
The mission is expected to launch sometime by the end of 2020.
After a heartbreak from Chandrayaan 2, when ISRO lost contact with the Vikram lander minutes before its scheduled landing on the moon’s surface, the space agency is ready for its next mission.
While the mission gained a lot of appreciation and was generally declared a success, it also encountered a few hitches at the very end of its journey.
ISRO is said to be looking at November 2020 as the launch deadline for the mission.
As per the reports, the Chandrayaan 3 mission is likely to be a project in collaboration with JAXA, the Japanese space agency. The partnership is aimed at sending a rover to the south pole of the moon.
In a press statement, JAXA announced that the Chandrayaan 3 project could also see participation from the US Space Agency NASA.
The launch year for the project was 2023, as per the documents that were released by JAXA. The Japanese space agency is said to be assisting NASA with the development of the rocket and rover while ISRO is developing the lander.
The mission's payload capacity is expected to be almost 500kg and the total mass at launch will be 6 tons or more. The JAXA report shows that the mission's objective is to collect samples, find prospects for water or ice on the lunar surface and analyze the nearby region.
ISRO might give more details about the mission early next year, as the mission starts to take form.
So far, India has successfully conducted one lunar mission in the form of Chandrayaan 1. It was launched on October 22, 2008 and it was able to discover water on the moon.
