Updated on Saturday, July 04, 2009, 19:28 IST

Kolkata, July 04: ISRO is not getting enough scientific solutions for its Mars mission which it proposes to launch in 2013, its chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Saturday.

"Not enough scientific solutions are coming through," Nair told newsmen when asked about status of the Mars mission programme.

Describing the Mars mission as a "tremendous challenge", he said it would require new scientific and technological solutions including placing a spacecraft in low altitude orbit around the planet and development of sensitive instruments to monitor radiation, electric and magnetic fields and energetic particles in the Martian field.

He said the ISRO's manned mission to space was expected to be launched in 2015 and it would take another five to six years before a manned lunar mission could be launched.

In reply to a question, he said the biggest impediment to the Chandrayan-II project was managing the impact of putting the lander and the moon rover on the lunar surface.

Stating that the ISRO had earned a revenue of Rs 1,000 crore during 2008-09, he said about 15 to 20 per cent of it came from hiring out PSLVs to launch foreign satellites.

Bureau Report