• ISRO aims to land Vikram in unexplored lunar south pole.
• Chandrayaan-2, the lunar lander mission planned to be launched during July 9-16, will have 14 Indian payloads or study devices.

BACKGROUND:

• The 3,800-kg spacecraft includes an orbiter which will circle the moon at 100 km; a five-legged lander called Vikram that will descend on the moon on or around September 6; and a robotic rover, Pragyan, that will probe the lunar terrain around it.
• All three modules will carry payloads but did not specify them or their objective. The orbiter alone will have eight payloads or instruments.
• ISRO has chosen a landing area at the hitherto unexplored lunar south pole, making it the first agency to touch down at the south pole if it succeeds in its first landing attempt.
• Chandrayaan-2 will be India’s second outing to the moon. ISRO will send the mission on its heavy lift booster, the MkIII, from Sriharikota.
• In October 2008, the space organisation had launched its orbiter mission Chandrayaan-1 on its PSLV booster.
• The spacecraft had 11 payloads. One of the U.S. payloads shares credit with Chandrayaan-1 for confirming the presence of water ice on the moon.
• Before that, the Moon Impacter Probe carrying the Indian tricolour image was made to hard-land on the lunar south pole.