Chandrayaan mission-2 is coming up with Rs. 800 crore will be cheaper than Sci-fi movie which may be costed about Rs. 1,062 crores. The earlier Mars mission which is launched in 2013 is costed about Rs. 470 crores.

Dr K Sivan, ISRO Chairman said, “Simplifying the system, miniaturizing the complex big system, strict quality control and maximizing output from a product make our space missions frugal and cost-effective. We keep the strict vigil on each and every stage of development of a spacecraft or a rocket and, therefore, we are able to avoid wastage of products, which helps us minimize the mission cost.”

He also said, “We are trying for a dawn-to-dusk landing and rover walk on the lunar’s mission for maximum utilization of the scientific mission. If we are not able to land in April due to various factors, then the mission will be launched in November. If we launch between April and November we won’t get the perfect dawn-to-dusk landing and experiment time due to moon eclipses, therefore, we will avoid the launch in between. The perfect timing for the launch comes only once in a month.”

The Isro chairman said, “We have chosen the landing site near the south pole as it has big rocks that are billions of years old. Analysing these rocks and the surface will help us explore the moon better and enrich our understanding of the universe.”

When asked about the initial participation of the mission he explained, “Earlier, Russia promised us to provide a rover for the mission. However, Isro scientists wanted their own rover. During that period, Russia’s Phobos-Grunt mission for Mars involving the lander failed. Russia then wanted to buy time to correct the fault that led to the mission failure. Keeping the circumstances in mind, Isro then planned to develop own rover and lander. Therefore, it’s a completely indigenous programme now.”

Other tests on different Chandrayaan-2 has been taking place at Bengaluru, Mahendragir and Chitradurga. ISRO has also created some artificial Lunar craters as part of Hazard avoidance.