ISRO all set for Chandrayan II in 2012, Mars mission in 2013

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for its second moon mission `Chandrayaan II' and space scientists plan to send a robot to moon in 2012, followed by a spacecraft to Mars in 2013.

ISRO will also sent a man to space astride a Russian spaceship the same year, its chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

Besides, ISRO has lined up a slew of missions, which also include landing a spacecraft on an asteroid and sending a probe to fly past a comet, the ISRO chief told reporters at a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to felicitate the members of the Chandrayaan I team.

''Chandrayaan II, the design is complete, we hope by 2012, we will be ready for the launch,''  Madhavan Nair said.

The launch of Chandrayaan-II, approved by the government will include a rover that will land on the moon. It will map a three-dimensional atlas of the moon, and analyse the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface.

India hopes to send an astronaut into space by 2013 and a manned mission to the moon by 2020.

India, which started its space programme in 1963, now account for around 16 satellites currently in earth orbit

India also has the world's largest constellation of seven earth-observation satellites, which is being used for telecommunications, TV broadcasting, earth observation, weather forecasting, remote education and healthcare.

Nair, however, said the mission to Mars is still at a conceptual stage and ISRO expects to finalise plans by next year, with take-off in 2013.b He said the same Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) will be used to launch the probe to Mars.