NEW DELHI — India hopes to launch Chandrayaan-2, its second lunar exploration mission, with an indigenous rover and lander, aboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) by 2017. The mission will be a totally Indian program, without any participation from frequent industrial partner Russia. “This time it will be an indigenous launch ... which intends to demonstrate our capability to soft-land on the lunar surface,” says K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

India may soon consider allowing international airlines to fly the Airbus A380 into the country, a move that could benefit the customers of the largest passenger aircraft in the world in the Indian civil aviation market. Both the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Ministry are consulting all stakeholders, such as Indian carriers and airports, before making a final decision to allow entry of the jumbo aircraft into India.

India fears that U.S. aviation regulators may downgrade the country’s air safety rating, amid the brewing diplomatic dispute between the two countries over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York in December. An official of the ministry of civil aviation in New Delhi says the FAA could possibly downgrade India’s safety rating to category II from category I, after submission of a report about the second round of a safety audit of India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).