NEW DELHI - India plans to send a second mission to Mars in 2018, a top official of the state-owned space agency has reportedly said.

India triumphs in maiden Mars mission

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s satellite centre director S. Shiva Kumar, the second mission will be sent with a heavier satellite which will carry a lander and a rover.

"We will be able to take the Mars-2 mission after launching the second mission to the moon (Chandrayaan-2) in 2016 with our own lander and rover, which will help us develop a separate lander and rover for the red planet," Kumar was quoted by the local media as saying Thursday.

ISRO last month successfully sent to Mars its maiden mission, a year after lunching it from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota.