US, UK vie for slot in moon mission

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has shortlisted experiments from five nations including the US, UK and Germany, for a slot on India's unmanned moon mission 'Chandrayaan-1' to be undertaken by 2006-07.

"We have shortlisted scientific experiments from researchers in five countries "" US, UK, Sweden, Bulgaria and Germany. We will finalise the right partners by December," ISRO sources said here on Monday.

India plans to put a 525 kg orbiter using the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) rocket 100 km over the moon aiming to explore more about the Earth's satellite.

ISRO had allotted 10 kgs and 10 watt of power for space agencies of other nations and had invited international bids for the purpose that had evoked 15 responses from 10 nations.

"The experiments are "" Chandrayan-I x-ray spectrometer (CIXS-II) from Britain; near infra-red spectrometer (SIR) from Germany; sub-ked atom reflecting analyser (SARA) from Sweden in collaboration with ISRO's space physics laboratory; radiation dove monitoring experiment (RADOM) from Bulgaria and mini-synthetic aperture radar (Mini-SAR) from America.

ISRO officials will hold final talks with scientists of these projects at the International Lunar Conference from November 21 to 25 in Udaipur before zeroing-in on projects that will form part of the Chandrayaan-1 mission.

India's mission is aimed at expanding the scientific knowledge about the moon, upgrading India's technological capability and providing challenging opportunities for planetary research to the younger generation.