ISRO Chief K. Sivan asserts, Mangalyaan-2 will be orbiter mission

New Delhi: Recently, the Rover launched by NASA landed on the surface of Mars. Around that time, India declared its second Mangalyaan mission. On Saturday, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chief, K. Sivan, asserted that India is planning the second Mangalyaan mission. But this will only be an orbiter mission, he clarified. He also said that the duration of the upcoming Mangalyaan mission has not yet been finalised.

Currently, ISRO is focusing on the Chandrayan-3 mission. This mission got postponed due to the Covid disaster. Besides, in 2019, the Chandrayan-2 mission did not succeed entirely. In the mission, even though the Chandrayan could orbit around the Moon and function well, the Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover sent to land on the Moon surface lost connection with the Chandrayan. Hence, the mission to land on the dark side of the Moon and collect information failed.

However, at the same time, ISRO declared Chandrayan-3. The attempt to send Rover on the Moon surface will be repeated in the upcoming mission. But the mission will be achieved by 2022 as per the report. Moreover, recently, NASA landed its Rover on Mars; so, against that background, ISRO chief, K. Sivan, was questioned whether ISRO plans to send Rover on Mars. At the time, K. Sivan asserted that ISRO does plan on launching another Mangalyaan. But this mission will be implemented only after Chandrayan-3. Also, Mangalyan-2 will only be an orbiter mission. The orbiter will be sent in the Mars orbit, and it will collect information after revolving around the planet, said K. Sivan.

Earlier, in 2013, the first-ever Mangalyaan mission was implemented, and in September 2014, Mangalyaan entered the Mars orbit. The Mangalyaan orbiter had been created only to function for six months. But, seven years have passed ever since, and the orbiter continues to perform well. In only Rs 450 crores, this mission implemented by India is known to be the least expensive mission all across the world. Hence, this has changed the perception of the world towards the Indian space programme. The entire world had to acknowledge India’s achievement.