India to launch next lunar probe in 2010 with Russian help
22/10/2008 14:24 SRIHARIKOTA (India), October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Following the launch of India's first unmanned mission to the moon on Wednesday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said it could launch a second lunar probe in 2010 with Russian participation.
The successful lift-off of the Chandrayaan-1 saw India become the third Asian country to send an unmanned probe to the Earth's largest satellite after Japan and China.
The spacecraft was carried into space by the Indian-built PSLV-C11 rocket, and will take 15 days to reach the moon.
Work on Chandrayaan-2, an Indo-Russian joint venture, is to begin after Chandrayaan-1 starts exploration work on the moon, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said.
The second mission, for which the ISRO and the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos have already signed an agreement, is to feature a lander and a rover for a soft landing on the moon.
"However, there would be a provision for accommodating payloads from other space agencies, as is the case with Chandrayaan 1," Nair said.
Chandrayaan means "Moon Craft" in ancient Sanskrit.
