India will launch its first unmanned mission to the Moon on October 22, the country’s space officials say, weather conditions permitting.
The spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 will orbit the Moon, surveying its surface with high-resolution equipment. The launch had been scheduled for April, but was pushed back due to technical problems. The project will cost $83m and has the direct involvement of six other countries, including the US and Europe. Over the next two years, it will survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and its three-dimensional topography.
India’s space program was launched as a scientific research effort, but has now begun to make money from commercial launches. At least 16 Indian satellites currently orbit the earth, supporting telecommunications, TV broadcasting, earth observation, weather forecasting, remote education and healthcare.
India’s constellation of seven earth-observation satellites is the largest of its kind in the world, but its space program lags behind its Asian rival China, which in 2003 became only the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to launch a man into space aboard its own rocket.
More News:
Chandrayaan-I clears all tests for Moon odyssey
Videos on Chandrayan from Previous Posts:
Watch the Video on Chandrayaan - India’s Mission to the Moon
Watch ISRO Video on Chandrayaan 2008
Source: BBC, Reuters, CNN-IBN, Times of India, ISRO
This is one proud moment India should be proud of .. Again there is a long way to go for India to compete with China !!
I am looking forward for this mission. ISRO is making India proud.
There is lot to be fixed on Mother earth before we start thinking about moon. I am not saying technology is good but i say it has been no good to our society and its ills so far. Sorry i am always like this.
Indian Govt should concentrate on solving problems like terrorism, poverty, corruption etc to name few. Also it would be a great idea to use bunch of satellites we have already shot in to space for the better prediction of natural calamities. I guess nobody wants to repair those machines in space. They must have got junk. Anyway we can always send more sats to space and moon just to make rest of the world think that mmmmm INDIA.
Comeon guys wake up. Do something useful that benefits normal people.