India's moon mission quite economical

India's moon mission has proved to be quite economical and cost much less compared to what other countries have spent on their projects, mission director M Annadurai said here.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would continue to check costs in the Chandrayan-II mission as well, he said.

India's moon mission cost only about one sixth to one tenth of the cost of similar missions undertaken by European Space Agency (SMART) or NASA's LRO or SELENE of Japan or ChangE of China.

Chandrayaan-I was also unique in carrying 11 scientific instruments and 60 detectors, Annadurai said at a seminar organised by National Council of Science Museums yesterday.

The total cost of Chandrayaan-I project including the ground facilities and launch vehicle was only $75 million ($30 million for the payload ) while cost of only payloads for missions like Japan's SELENE was $480 million, China's ChangE at $187 million or NASA's LRO at $491 million.

ISRO scientists adopted different technique in the construction of the payloads to reduce cost. Mechanical interface and electrical simulations were done in a particular way before going for actual construction of the flight model.

This enabled scientists and engineers not only to reduce cost but also to deliver the project in the stipulated timeframe of four and a half year, he said.