India’s first private spacecraft plans ride on PSLV to the Moon

TeamIndus, a Bangalore-based technology startup, is all set to launch a spacecraft to the moon next year aboard Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket.

TeamIndus will reportedly launch the spacecraft on December 28, 2017 as a part of its bid to win the Google Lunar X prize.  

In the four International teams, TeamIndus is the only Indian team participating for the $30 million Google competition.

Under the mission, the teams are required to land their spacecraft on the moon, have it travel 500 metres over the lunar surface, and send HD videos, images and data back to the earth.

The team, a bunch of engineers, air force pilots, bankers and aerospace engineers, has also roped in a dozen retired Indian Institute of Science professors as their mentors.

Earlier in this year, Rahul Narayan, CEO of Team Indus revealed, “It is a full length spacecraft, about 1.8 metres long, 6 feet high, with multiple sensors mounted in it, a dozen cameras on board and solar panels to generate energy as it goes along.”

“It is designed in Domlur, integrated in Domlur and hence made in Domlur,” he added. The components for the spacecraft have been imported from various countries.

In a three-day window centred on December 28, 2017, ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will inject the spacecraft into an orbit around the earth. The spacecraft will then undertake a 21-day journey to land at Mare Imbrium, a region in the North-Western hemisphere of the moon.

TeamIndus investors include, Ratan Tata; Sachin and Binny Bansal, co-founders of Flipkart, and Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys Ltd.

TeamIndus has 25 global partners in Japan, Germany, Spain, UK, US.