Destination Moon: ISRO to draw blueprint today

Top scientists meeting to work out manned mission

BANGALORE: India’s space scientists will meet on Tuesday to draw a blueprint to undertake a manned mission to space, followed by a landing a man on the moon by the end of the next decade.

Nearly 60 scientists from top research labs and scientific institutions will debate on the viability of putting an Indian in space, expected to be around 2014 and landing a man on moon by 2020.

“The government has given us a green signal for the manned mission. We have the capabilities and discussions will be held on how to harness resources to accomplish the mission,” an Indian Space Research Organisation official said.

India plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon by 2008 and has begun to study technologies needed to send an astronaut to space.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the nod for a manned mission after ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair made a presentation last week.

The United States has revived a programme to send a man to the moon by 2020, while China has announced plans to land on the moon around the same time.

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Indian Institute of Science, National Aerospace Laboratories, Defence Research and Development Organisation and Institute of Aerospace Medicine will be part of the debate on Tuesday, to build a consensus to go in for a manned mission.

Nair said a manned mission to space would cost about Rs10,000 crore, while sending a man to the moon would be costlier.