Mangalyaan-2 will be an orbiter mission: ISRO chief

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ As National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in the early hours of Friday to look for signs of past life, Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Sivan said India’s next mission to the Red Planet is likely to be an orbiter. He, however, did not provide an exact time frame for the mission — Mangalyaan-2.

The second mission to Mars will be undertaken only after the launch of Chandrayaan-3, he said. The third mission to the Moon or Chandrayaan-3, under which ISRO aims to land a rover on the satellite, has been delayed due to the coronavirus-induced pandemic and is now likely to lift off in 2022.

Landing on Mars is “more tough”, Sivan said, adding that Chandrayaan-3 will demonstrate ISRO’s landing capabilities. After its first Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was successful, the ISRO called for ‘Announcement of Opportunities’ on MOM-2.Sivan said Mangalyaan-1 is ‘still working good’ and sending data. ‘It is now planned to have the next orbiter mission around Mars for a future launch opportunity,’ according to the Announcement of Opportunities.