New Delhi, April 18: India's second moon mission 'Chandrayaan-2' which is expected to be launched around October-November this year, is likely to cost Rs 800 crore, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Sivan said on Wednesday.

It includes Rs 200 crore for launching and Rs 600 crore for the satellite, Sivan told Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh, during a meeting here.

Chandrayaan-2 will be equipped with a lander and rover probe which will descend on the surface of the moon from where it will observe the lunar surface and send back data which will be useful for analysis of the lunar soil, he said.

Jitendra Singh appreciated the fact that the Chandrayaan-2 mission is not only cost-effective but also "totally indigenous in its expertise, manufacturing and material". 

India's first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, launched on October 22, 2008, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre near Chennai, was also accomplished in a cost-effective manner.

Chandrayaan-1 Project Director Mayilsamy Annadurai was quoted by a news organisation in 2011 as saying that of the Rs 386 crore earmarked for the project, Rs 82 lakh had been saved.

Another ISRO Mission, GSLV Mk III-D2, scheduled for June-July this year was also discussed during the meeting.

 

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Patna, Dec 26: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Thursday slammed the BJP over alleged heckling of a woman artist who sang a bhajan, known to be a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi, at a function organised on the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a day ago.

The RJD supremo, on his X handle, alleged that the BJP leaders had taken exception to the phrase 'Sita Ram' and asked the singer to apologise before erupting in roars of "Jai Shri Ram".

The well-attended function was held on Wednesday at Bapu Sabhagar, a sprawling state-of-the-art auditorium in the heart of the city.

The septuagenarian alleged that the incident was "reflective of the misogyny that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar was known for" and its "disdain for females was resulting in disrespect for 'Sita Mata'."

However, BJP sources, who did not wish to be named, pointed out that the newspaper report shared by Prasad in an earlier tweet clearly stated that the furore was not over 'Sita Ram', but the subsequent stanza - 'Ishwar Allah Tero Naam'.

The sources claimed that party workers were opposed to the "recital of a line that was not part of the original verse composed by 15th-century poet Narsi Mehta, but inserted later, apparently in line with Gandhi's Hindu-Muslim unity plank".