India is getting ready to deploy an indigenously developed rover on the lunar surface for on-site analysis of various samples and relay them to the earth station.

Senior ISRO scientist and Deputy Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre V. Ranganathan told The Hindu on Saturday that they were in advance stages of deploying the rover. The timing of its launch is not yet finalised.

Chandrayaan-II Mission includes launching of lunar explorations by geosynchronous launch vehicles (GSLV Mk-II) with clinical precision. The wheeled rover would be useful in using multiple applications by collecting soil and rock sediments for on-site analysis and transmitting the findings to the earth station.

ISRO has also taken up ambitious programme to build vehicles with cryogenic engines with bigger capacity than GSLV, Mr. Ranganathan, who came here to take part along with other scientists in World Space Week celebrations, said.

Stating that synchronisation of earth movement and the satellites was very important for their success, he said compared to all other countries, the success rate of India’s satellite launch programme was very impressive due to focus on quality, cost effectiveness and optimum utilisation of manpower.

Deputy Project Director of LVM-3 B.V.V.S.N. Prasada Rao, who is part of team from ISRO visiting the city, said India was ahead of other countries in space technology by continuously test-firing and deploying satellites of various types and configurations for use for communication and other applications.

LMV3, a full-fledged vehicle will be launched in the first half of 2017. Mr. Rao said the heavy launch capability launcher would enable ISRO’s self-reliance in launching of satellites. It will send four tonne class geosynchronous satellites into the orbit.