A small aircraft will be allowed to fly over the high-profile ‘Science City’ near Chitradurga, Bengaluru soon to help space scientists address challenges of landing on the Mars and Moon. This aircraft will carry a special payload-the lander-rover of Chandrayaan-II.The Chandrayann-II is the country’s second shot at the Moon.
There are more than 1.8 lakh craters on the Moon. Each crater measure more than one km. ISRO scientists will carry out this test to ensure a landing on even surface ahead of the launch of Chandrayaan-II-an orbiter-lander-rover mission next year.
A top scientists told that this is the first time we are going to attempt to land on the Moon, so we want to be sensitive to our computation and technology.
He added that unlike Chandrayaan-I’s Moon Impact Probe (MIP), which crashed into the Moon, the lander will be designed to make a soft land and then to deploy the rover. A 20-kg rover will operate on solar power and it move on wheels on the lunar soil.
Space scientists said that the orbiter with five instruments on board would circle the Moon at an altitude of 100 km. Three of five instruments would be new, while two others would be improved versions of ones flown on board Chandrayaan-I.
DRDO has planned the maiden test flight of Rustom-II. Rustom-II is an advanced Unmanned Air Vehicle at the Aeronautical Test Range in another part of the 8,000 acre campus.
This medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAV has a range of 250 km, and the capability to carry weapons as well as fly non-stop for five-six hours.
The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board Rustom-II will help the UAV see through dense clouds. On completion of test flights, it will replace the Israeli Heron UAVs being used by the IAF and Indian Navy, according to sources in the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
