Chandrayaan-2 to cost Rs426 crore

ISRO will spend Rs 426 crore for the country's second unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-2,
a senior scientist of the space agency said here today.

This is an additional Rs40 crore from Rs386 crore spent earlier on the first mission, project director Mylswamy Annadurai told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.

Chandrayaan-2, which is expected to be launched in September 2013, is a lunar landing mission,while the earlier one (Chandrayaan-1) was only an orbiter, Annadurai said.

ISRO had terminated Chandrayaan-1 odyssey launched in October 2008 the following year on August 30 after it failed to re-establish contact, lost the previous day, with the lunar craft.

The second mission, which will have an orbiter, a lander and a rover, is planned to be launched onboard Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.