Chandrayaan-2 to be launched in January-March window in 2019

Bengaluru Indias second moon mission Chandrayaan2 will now be launched in the JanuaryMarch window in 2019 instead of later this year as the design was changed to enable it land on the lunar surface a top ISRO official said in Bengaluru on SundayWe have planned to launch Chandrayaan mission in January 3 We are fixing with that date and targeting that But that is an open window We can go up to March also As we are coming closer the date we may miss the target he said The reason for postponing the mission was that there were certain important changes made in the design so that it could easily land on the lunar surface he saidHe was speaking on the sidelines of a function where the bust of Dr Vikram Sarabhai the architect of the Indian space mission was unveiledAsked why the weight of Chandrayaan2 was increased by 600 kg he said ISRO noticed during experiments that after the moon lander was ejected the satellite would shake So they decided that the design modification was required for landing and mass has to be increased We also realised that the orbiter required more phases which required more fuel he told reportersOn the space agencys future missions Sivan said ISRO also plans to launch 50 satellites in the next three years the space agency would launch 22 satellites in 2019 the maximum in any year in the history of ISRO he said Next year from February to December we plan to have 22 missions with almost two missions per month which is a very important activity This tight schedule of programmes we are doing for the first timeWe have set a targetWe may not be able achieve but we are targeting it So many missions in a year is a huge target for the first time in the history of ISRO Sivan said The remaining months of 2018 would also be very hectic for ISRO as it plans to launch at least two missions every month he saidOur next mission is PSLV C42 which will launch NOVASAT and S14 These two satellites are commercial satellites from the UKIt is a commercial mission and is planned in September Subsequently we have two missions each month the ISRO chief saidIn October this year ISRO would launch GSAT29 for the Digital India programme and hyper spectrum imaging satellites along with 30 commercial satellites Sivan said The following month GSAT7A will be launched while in December there would be two missionsGSLVF11 launching AMISAT and GSAT31 a replacement for INSAT 4CR whose life will get over by January he saidISRO would have two missions Chandrayan2 by GSLV Mark 3 and the PSLV P45 launching RASAT 2B next year The focus area of these launches was to enhance the communication so that rural India gets high bandwidth data connectivity somewhere between 80 GBPS to 100 GBPS he saidAsked about GSAT 6A with which communication had been lost after its launch in March 31 this year he said ISRO has not given up hope and was still trying to establish radar contact with the satellite We have not given up hope We will wait till a year he said when asked how much time ISRO would take to announce that the GSAT 6A was a failed missionCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever