THE Indian flag is set to be planted on the moon after the successful launch of the country’s first lunar mission.
The rocket carrying the unmanned lunar craft Chandrayaan-1 - an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “moon craft” - lifted off yesterday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in south India at 6.20am local time.
A successful mission will mean India joins the European Space Agency, Japan, China, the United States and Russia as the only ones to have undertaken lunar expeditions.
India’s maiden moon mission was delayed for several days because of bad weather, but the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, Madhavan Nair, described yesterday’s launch as “perfect”.
“What we have started is a remarkable journey for the Indian spacecraft to go to the moon and try to unravel the mysteries of the moon,” he said.
The launch has buoyed the national mood in India, already high after the national cricket team beat Australia in the second test in Mohali on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, joined millions of Indians in celebrating the launch of Chandrayaan-1. “Our scientific community has once again done the country proud and the entire nation salutes them,” he said.
The lunar craft will conduct high-resolution mapping of the moon, scan for mineral deposits under the surface, and test systems for a future moon landing.
“The new set of data would help in unravelling mysteries about the origin and evolution of the solar system in general and that of the moon in particular,” the Indian Space Research Organisation said.
While Chandrayaan-1 is orbiting the moon, it will send a small “impact probe” to the surface that is designed to plant the Indian flag on the moon.
India’s moon mission has raised the prospect of an Asian space race. Japan and China both launched lunar missions last year and Chinese astronauts conducted the country’s first spacewalk last month.
India plans a subsequent Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2011 that will land a spacecraft on the moon’s surface and launch a moon rover.
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