'India's second moon mission to be launched in 2017'

THRISSUR: Chandrayaan 2, India's second satellite mission to moon, will be launched in 2017, said M C Dathan, director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram.
Speaking after inaugurating the pavilion of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at the Thrissur pooram exhibition the other day, Dathan said preparations are in full swing for the launch of Chandrayaan 2 at the various ISRO units including at the VSSC.
The launch will happen in the fifth sojourn of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark II rocket. The first trip of the GSLV Mark II, which can carry a payload of 2.5 tonnes, was in January 2014.
The second launch has been planned for July this year. Two more launches will happen in 2016, and it will carry communication satellites in all these trips.
As per the present plan, GSLV Mark II rocket will carry Chandrayaan 2 satellite in its proposed launch in 2017.
He said four satellites have already been launched as part of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), and three more are expected to be launched soon. Once those seven satellites are launched, middle on
they would be a better alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS) developed by the USA, for navigational purposes.
According to him, India is indigenously developing about 90% of the components for satellites and launch vehicle. Even in the remaining 10%, imports are used for certain components as their production will not be feasible for indigenous industry unless there are large orders.
ISRO is encouraging indigenous production of some of the imported products by providing soft loans to the industries and by entering into buyback agreements with them, Dathan said.
He disclosed that launch of sound rockets will be made weekly from the rocket launch station at Thumba instead of the current bi-weekly launch. The weekly launch of rockets will make it possible to forecast weather in a more accurate manner, as they will be able to monitor parameters like humidity, temperature and wind speed more closely
.