Chandrayaan-I to help generate comprehensive moon maps

Scientists world over have detailed maps of Mars but not of the moon.

Chandrayaan-I, India's maiden moon mission, is carrying 11 instruments which will help prepare comprehensive maps of the earth's only natural satellite -- the moon.

The maps could be of immense help when Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and other space agencies plan to land spacecraft on the lunar surface or plan to use the moon as a base for future interplanetary missions.

Chandrayaan-I is carrying an Indian flag which will be placed on the lunar surface when the Moon Impactor Probe (MIP) lands on the moon during the course of the two-year mission.

Of the 11 instruments carried by the satellite, five are Indian, three are from the European Space Agency, two from the US -- including a radar that can search for ice under lunar poles -- and one from Bulgaria.

Among ISRO's five experiments is the Moon Impact Probe which will detach from the spacecraft once it begins orbiting the moon and crash onto the lunar surface.

The MIP may not survive the fall but will demonstrate technologies for a future soft-landing mission. During its crash on the lunar surface, the MIP will send high resolution images of the moon and also analyse its terrain.

Indian scientists have equipped Chandrayaan-I with a Terrain Mapping stereo Camera (TMC) which will map the topography in both near and far side of the Moon.

The data will help prepare a 3-dimensional atlas with high spatial and altitude resolution which will help understand the evolution process and also allow detailed study of regions of scientific interests.