India's Prime Minister Announces Mission To Moon

Launch of Indian Space Research Organization unmanned exploratory craft, dubbed Chandrayan-1, expected by 2008. Mission will send back high-resolution images of the Moon's surface, may pave way for future ventures deeper into space by India.

NEW YORK -- August, 2003)-- Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has announced that India will go forward with plans to launch an unmanned spacecraft into Lunar orbit.

During his Independence Day address to the nation on Friday (15 August), Shri Vajpayee announced that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will send a 525-kilogram satellite into a polar orbit 100 kilometers above the Moon.

The mission spacecraft, dubbed Chandrayan-1, is projected to be ready for launch by 2008, and is expected to send back imagery of the moon's surface using high-resolution remote sensing instruments in the visible, near infrared, low and high-energy X-ray regions.

Provisions will also be made to carry scientific instruments from other countries aboard the craft. The orbiting satellite will be launched into space aboard a modified version of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

The estimated price tag of the Chandrayan-1 mission is $100-million (USD).

"Today, India is confident of undertaking a complex space mission because of its indigenously developed launch vehicle and spacecraft capabilities," a statement from ISRO said. "Chandrayan-1 is expected to be the forerunner of more ambitious planetary missions in the years to come, including landing robots on the moon and visits by Indian spacecraft to other planets in the solar system."

Complete text of ISRO announcement: http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Aug16_2003.htm

Official ISRO Website: http://www.isro.org

More News: http://www.lunarjournal.com