India to launch Chandrayaan-I in 2007-08

BEIJING: India will launch its first moon mission Chandrayaan-I in 2007-2008 during which the world would see similar endeavours by China, Japan, US and Europe, opening new vistas for mutually beneficial cooperation, a senior Indian space scientist said on Thursday.

Although objectives and priorities of various missions are different, some of them have similar payloads and can mutually benefit by coordinated observations and sharing of data, chief scientist of the Chandrayaan-I project Narendra Bhandari told the 8th International Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon which concluded here.

"Chandrayaan-I is a lunar polar orbiter designed for chemical, mineralogic and topographic mapping of the lunar surface. It will provide complete coverage of the moon from an altitude of about 100 km during its observation period of two years planned in 2008-2010," said Bhandari, also President of International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG).

At the same time, he noted that in spite of half a century of exploration of the Moon by direct missions, one knew very little about the Moon.

"In my opinion, it remains the most mysterious yet the most important objects in the solar system," he said while emphasising the need for studying the Moon very closely.

The presence of Moon around the Earth stabilises its orbit, avoiding extreme climatic conditions thus enabling life to survive and sustain, Bhandari, from the Ahmedabad-based Basic Sciences Research Institute, said.