India plans mission to moon next April

India plans to launch its first lunar space probe, with two payloads from the United States, in April 2008 and is studying the possibility of sending a man to space.

"The design reviews are over. We are building and testing about six instruments which are to go on board the mission," Madhavan Nair, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said in an interview yesterday.

"The window for the launch will open in April. The exact date will depend on the position of the moon and other parameters."

Europe's first spacecraft to the moon, Smart-1, reached the lunar surface on September 3, 2006. China will launch a moon mission later this year, Xinhua reported on May 21. Japan is also planning a lunar probe.

"There is global interest in exploring the moon," said Roddam Narasimha, professor emeritus of Bangalore-based independent research body, the National Institute of Advanced Studies.

"In the last few years, Isro has built a robust launch capability. They can now afford to think of a lunar mission without looking at how much money is being spent."

India's unmanned Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe will map the moon's surface for chemicals and minerals using a spectrometer and terrain-mapping cameras during its two-year mission, Nair said. The Rs 3.9 billion ($96.3 million) probe will land an "impacter" onto the moon and collect data.

The 11 payloads on the spacecraft will include one miniature radar and a mineral mapper from the US, one from the European Space Agency and another from Bulgaria, Nair said.

"We will be looking for Helium 3 and traces of water on the lunar surface," Nair said. "In a year's time we will submit to the government a report on whether a manned space mission is needed. It will cost about Rs 100 billion."'

India is eyeing the global commercial satellite launch market dominated by the US, Russia and Europe. In 2009, it will develop a rocket, the GSLV-Mk III, capable of carrying satellites as heavy as four tonne, Nair said.

In April, PSLV-C8 had successfully placed an Italian satellite in orbit, marking the space agency's first commercial launch.

"This was one of the very successful missions against high competition from other players. The result is that the international community is very appreciative of our launch capability," Nair said.

"Slowly we hope to enter into the launch of other satellites on a commercial basis. We are discussing this with other nations."

The cost of launching a satellite is $20,000 a kilogram on the international market, while the Indian agency can do it for $15,000, Nair said. The agency is focusing on the two-tonne satellite market, he added.

"With the GSLV-Mk III we are targeting a cost reduction of at least 40 per cent. We are trying to bring down the cost to $12,000," Nair said.

"About 20 launches take place in the world a year and the market is about $2 billion. Even if we get one or two of those launches, it is a good share."

If the US eases export regulations for space equipment, commerce between India and the US can double from the existing $12 million a year, Nair said.

"A dialogue is on with the US agencies to remove the restrictions on electronic equipment required for spacecraft and launch applications," Nair said.

"Currently, we are getting them from Europe and Asia."

Political factors also determine who gets contracts in the commercial launch industry, with the US government putting in place a law that requires special permission for their satellites to be launched from other countries, Nair said.

"That is one of the constraints we are facing at the moment," Nair said. Still "in the space science area we have achieved a breakthrough by carrying two US payloads."