Chandrayaan-II: ISRO has received "several" payload proposals

Bangalore, Jan 27 (PTI) The Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) would finalise in a couple of months the
payloads from the international community to be carried on
Chandrayaan-II moon mission, the space agency's Chairman K
Radhakrishnan said Wednesday.
"Yes, we have and in a couple of months we would finalise
it. There are several of them (proposals received from
different countries)," he told reporters here.
The Chandrayaan II mission would have an orbiter which
would carry a lander and rover, ISRO chief said on the
sidelines of a book launch on Moon Mission.
"The lander will bring the rover to the surface of the
moon and during the time it is there, it will take samples to
be analysed," he said, adding, the data would be sent back to
earth through the orbiter.
The orbiter would have "some instruments and we are
finalising which are those to be put there. It is about 50 kg
mass, that is what we could have," he said.
He said a scientific committee, chaired by former ISRO
chief Prof U R Rao was looking at requirements and
possibilities of learning from the Chandrayaan I experiment.
"ISRO is expected to finalise configuration soon for
Chandrayaan II to be launched by GSLV. That is what the plan
is around 2012-2013, we should be able to have the mission,"
he noted.
Asked how many payloads the next mission would carry, he
said it would be decided soon, with mass and power being the
limiting factor.
"We also need to repeat some experiments. All will be
decided by the scientific committee." (More) PTI