Spaceflight

More detail has emerged from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) about its planned 2012 Chandrayaan-2 mission that will have a lander and rover.

Chandrayaan-2's rover will be developed in partnership with Russia and its mass will be between 30kg (66lb) and 100kg, depending on whether it will go in for a "semi-hard or soft" landing. The rover will be designed to operate for one month using solar power.

With a descent planned after the spacecraft enters lunar orbit, the rover will use robotic arms to pick up rock and soil samples to carry out "in-situ chemical analysis and resources exploration". It will send the data back to ISRO's ground station. ISRO has previously said that Chandrayaan-2's instruments will be international.

The organisation's chairman G Madhavan Nair says that while there are plans to obtain helium-3 from the Moon's surface with an unidentified foreign partner, "once we know whether helium is there, we can proceed to the next stage".

The first Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 will provide data to help ISRO select a suitable landing site for the 2012 lander. Chandrayaan-1 is an orbiter whose launch date has been postponed from April to September this year.

As envisaged now, both Chandrayaan missions will look for clues for the presence of water and helium-3 and help ISRO take a decision on a possible manned Moon mission if the country's political leadership gives a go-ahead for the initial human spaceflight project.