First Unmanned Mission To The Moon Likely In Sept.
The Statesman
(India) (06/26/08)

The official date for India's first unmanned moon
mission, Chandrayaan-1, is set to be announced in July and could come as soon as
September. According to G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO), "There are a lot of expectations from the mission. It is
going to be a unique mission in which you will get the total mapping of the
moon, which does not exist today." Rather than landing on the moon, the unmanned
spacecraft will reach polar orbit 100 kilometers above the surface, and will
focus on gathering information about polar icecaps that could contain traces of
water. "We are trying to look for rare elements on the surface of the moon. The
information will help us in further exploration," said Nair.
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