US, UK vie for slice of India moon mission

November 15, 2004

November 15, 2004 18:42 IST

Indian Space Research Organisation has shortlisted experiments from

five nations, including the US, UK and Germany, for a slot in

India's unmanned moon mission "Chandrayaan-1" to be undertaken by

2006-07.

"We have short listed scientific experiments from researchers in

five countries -- the US, UK, Sweden, Bulgaria and Germany. We will

finalise the right partners by December," ISRO sources said in

Bangalore on Monday.

India plans to put a 525-kg orbiter 100 km over the moon using a

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket to explore the earth's

satellite.

ISRO had allotted 10 kg and 10 watt of power for space agencies of

other nations and had invited international bids for the purpose

that had evoked 15 responses from 10 nations.

"The best suited proposals have been short listed. We have to find

out whether they finally fit into our mission payload," the sources

said.

The experiments are Chandrayan-I X-ray spectrometer from Britain;

Near Infra-red spectrometer from Germany; Sub-ked Atom Reflecting

Analyser from Sweden in collaboration with ISRO's Space Physics

Laboratory; Radiation Dove Monitoring Experiment from Bulgaria and

Mini-Synthetic Aperture Radar from America.

ISRO officials will hold final talks with scientists of these

projects at the International Lunar Conference from November 21 to

25 in Udaipur before zeroing in on projects that will form part of

the Chandrayaan-1 mission.

India's mission is aimed at expanding the scientific knowledge about

the moon, upgrading India's technological capability and providing

the younger generation challenging opportunities for planetary

research.

ISRO officials said a three-dimensional atlas of regions of

scientific interest of the moon will be mapped with instruments on

board the mission, besides exploring the lunar surface for elements

such as magnesium, aluminium, silicon, calcium, iron and titanium.

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