ISRO major announcements: Chandrayaan-2 launch likely in mid April

Addressing the media on Friday , ISRO Chief Shivan said that the agency has planned a program called Unnati (UNispace Nanosatellite Assembly and Training by ISRO), in which other countries can come forward and get training to built nano satellite.

ISRO

New Delhi: ISRO Chief K Shivan on Friday made a couple of key announcements on the major satellite missions planned to be undertaken by the Space Agency in the near future. Addressing the media on Friday , ISRO Chief K Shivan said that the agency has planned a program called Unnati (UNispace Nanosatellite Assembly and Training by ISRO), in which other countries can come forward and get training to built nano satellite. The mission will be inaugurated by Dr. Jitendra Singh on 17th. This programme will provide an excellent opportunity for the participant countries to strengthen their capabilities in assembling, integrating and testing nano satellites. Briefing the media on the Chandryaan 2 mission, K Shivan said that the lunar mission is scheduled to be launched between March 25 to April 30th this year. With respect to the  Gaganyaan mission, its training will be done in India, advanced training will be outside India, may be Russia. Women will also be part of the astronauts team. Selection will be done by India. IAF will also be part of selection team. Women will be part of astronauts team, As PM said Brother and sisters. So we want women to be there but it all depends on selection process The ISRO Chief added that first time a centre called "Human Space Centre" has been set for mission "Gaganyaan". Centre director is Dr. Unnikrishnan Nair. Mission director Mr. Huddan. Before the Gaganyaan mission (planned in Dec 2021), there will be 2 Unmanned mission launch. The first Unmanned mission will be launched Dec 2020 second July 2021. After this the manned mission will be launched in Dec 2021. The first Unmanned mission will be launched in Dec 2020 and second in July 2021. After this manned mission will be launched in Dec 2021. 3 Indian Astronauts will be in space for 7 days. This will be a major turning point for ISRO That said, if a delay is likely, ISRO could have good, strategic reasons for it this time. After China succeeded in making a historic landing of its Chang'e-4 rover on the moon's far side on 3 January, many similarities between Chang'e-4 and Chandrayaan-2 became apparent. While the missions differ in their instruments and design, they do share many of the same core objectives and are surveying areas of the moon that aren't too far away from each other. Considering the tough competition between the Indian and Chinese space programs, any further delays could be ISRO's way of keeping things interesting and breaking new ground. The Rs-800 crore Chandrayaan-2 mission comes ten years after ISRO's first probe to the moon.