Indian moon mission to carry 2 NASA payloads (AP) Updated: 2006-05-09 16:35 An Indian unmanned mission to
the moon will carry two NASA scientific devices designed to find minerals and
ice on the lunar surface, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
The deal between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO is
seen as another sign of the increasingly close ties between New Delhi and
Washington after decades of Cold War estrangement.
The mission, called Chandrayaan-1, is set to launch in 2007 or 2008,
according to the ISRO Web site, and will map the lunar surface using an array of
sensors.
The collaboration, initially agreed on during U.S. President George W. Bush's
visit to India in March, calls for two NASA payloads to be carried to the moon
by a 525-kilogram (1,160-pound) spacecraft.
One of the American devices, a mini-synthetic aperture radar, will map ice
deposits in the moon's polar regions. The other instrument, called a moon
mineralogy mapper, will asses mineral resources, said U.S. Embassy spokesman
David Kennedy.
Chandrayaan-1 will also carry three scientific instruments from European
research centers.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair signed
the deal Tuesday in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
Ties between New Delhi and Washington hit a low point when the United States
and other Western nations imposed economic sanctions on India after it tested
nuclear weapons in 1998.
The sanctions delayed ISRO's plans to develop its own engine for launching
space vehicles.
However, most sanctions have since been lifted, and a civilian nuclear
cooperation deal signed in March by Bush and India's Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh is seen as the cornerstone of the emerging strategic partnership between
the world's dominant power and one of Asia's economic powerhouses.
India began its space program in 1972, and has previously used engines from
longtime ally Russia to launch satellites.
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