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Indian Space Agency Invited to Discuss Lunar Mission With US, China

Posted on: Thursday, 27 May 2004, 06:00 CDT

Text of report by Indian news agency PTI

New Delhi, 27 May: [The] Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been invited to discuss its moon mission at a conference of space-faring nations [on] Friday [28 May] in Beijing.

The American Planetary Society has convened this special meeting of space agencies that have either launched or are planning to launch missions to the moon.

The organizers said in a statement that the meeting would seek to promote international cooperation among India and other space- faring nations engaged in moon missions.

Representatives from the US, China, Europe, Japan and India would discuss ongoing and planned lunar missions in the context of planetary exploration, the statement said, adding [that] Narendra Bhandari of India's moon mission Chandrayaan-1 will participate in the meeting.

The moon, after three decades of oblivion, has once again come in[to] the limelight of space research and exploration.

Europe's SMART-1 mission, a technology test of low-thrust ion propulsion, is now on a 16-month journey to the moon. SMART-1 will measure the chemical composition of the lunar surface, including the polar regions.

Japan is developing two missions, Lunar-A, an orbiter that will fire penetrators into the moon's surface, and SELENE, an orbiter with two sub-satellites.

China has described a lunar programme with two missions-an orbiter and a lander and India is planning a lunar orbiter.

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