Nasa promises the moon, literally

It took 30 years for Nasa's highest official to visit to India. Nasa Administrator Michael Griffin, who is on his first visit to India, is full of promises for enhancing better cooperation between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and for working out future space exploration plans.

Griffin signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman N Madhavan Nair today for inclusion of two US scientific instruments on board Chadrayaan-1, India's first scientific mission to moon. Chandrayaan-1 is scheduled for take-off in early 2008.

"It is my hope and belief that as we extend the reach of human civilisation throughout the solar system, the US and India will be partners on many more technically challenging and scientifically rewarding projects," said Griffin, Nasa's 11th administrator, in an interaction with the media.

Griffin said after India became a nuclear power, there was a period of lull in the bilateral relationship between the two countries in matters of science and technology.

"However, this has started melting down following the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the US, reciprocated by the visit of President George W Bush and I am happy to be a part of this process," said Griffin.

"I look forward to the opportunity to see first-hand India's impressive space facilities and to meet with the country's scientists and engineers to know more about the commendable work they are doing towards making India one of the advanced space faring nations," he added.

Griffin denied a possible visit to China, saying it was not on the cards just now. Asked if Nasa was planning to forge a similar alliance in space research with China, he said: "This is in a preliminary stage now."

The two scientific instruments from the US, which is part of the six payloads from the international community selected by Isro in response to the "announcement of opportunity", are the moon mineralogy mapper (M3) and mini synthetic aperture radar (Mini SAR).

The M3, jointly built by Brown University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of Nasa, will help in the characterisation and mapping of minerals on the lunar surface.

Mini SAR has been developed by the Johns Hopkins University, funded by Nasa, and will help to detect water in the permanently shadowed areas in the lunar polar region and check out the possibility of existence of water in the lunar surface.

Nair said the Nasa chief's visit to Isro's facilities would help the two organistions understand each others' strengths and requirements. He added that this would led to greater cooperation between the organisations in future missions.

During his stay in India, Griffin is scheduled to visit Isro's satellite development centre, launch vehicle production centre and launch sites.