India will be launching a moon mission next month. The mission, known as Chandrayaan-1, is launching approximately 5 years after the Indian government gave it the green light. The spacecraft is a lunar orbiter and will include six Indian and five foreign instruments on board. The launch will take place from the The Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC). The launch vehicle is the PSLV and is described as
“The PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world and carries 138 metric tonnes of Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) binded propellant with a diameter of 2.8 m. The motor case is made of maraging steel. The booster develops a maximum thrust of about 4,430 kN. Six strap-on motors, four of which are ignited on the ground, augment the first stage thrust. Each of these solid propellant strap-on motors carries nine metric tonne of HTPB propellant and produces 677 kN thrust.” – source: chandrayaan-i.com
“The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning 2nd moon mission Chandrayaan-2 in 2011. Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) is joining with ISRO for development of Chandrayaan-2 Lander/Rover.
Chandrayaan-2 will consist of the spacecraft and a landing platform with the moon rover.” source: chandrayaan-i.com
Chandrayaan-x flights 2-5 are all listed as moon rovers
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UPDATE OCT. 22 – Launch was successful.