Chandrayaan-2 - the sequel to India’s successful moon mission —which is to be launched in 2013, will be equipped with lighter payloads and more propellants to enhance its lifespan.

Chandrayaan-2 project director M Annadorai told reporters on Thursday that the spacecraft, which would have a rover to analyse samples from the moon’s surface, would carry miniature payloads (scientific instruments) unlike its predecessor.

“Chandrayaan-1 carried eleven instruments weighing 100 kg and 800 kg of propellant. The orbital weight of the satellite was 550 kg. For the Chandrayaan-2 mission, we want to double the propellant volume to ensure longer life of the spacecraft,” he said.

Though the design of the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has already been finalised, many foreign space agencies have expressed their desire to be part of the mission. “Initial planning is going on. The spin-off of Chandrayaan- 1 is that now, we will have to work on ‘miniaturising’ payloads,” he said.

Annadorai said that the Chandrayaan- 2 mission would pave the way for more discoveries and would be an add-on to its prequel, which recently made history by detecting the presence of water on the moon.

‘Chandrayaan-1 brought ISRO on par with others’ Annadorai, who was also the project director of Chandrayaan- 1, said that the space mission had given ample opportunity to India to work on ‘equal’ terms in planetary missions with international space agencies.

“Agencies like NASA, JAXA, ESA and those in Bulgaria, follow a very different culture and styles. Their standards are very different compared to Indian laboratories. We have been successful in aligning them for a common goal and vision of probing the moon and finding something useful for man on it,” he said.

“Earlier, it used to be one-toone joint ventures. But Chandrayaan- 1 was multi-polar,” Annadorai added.