India's First Unmanned Space Probe Enters Orbit Around Moon

By Jay Shankar

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- India's first unmanned space probe entered the lunar orbit yesterday and will spend the next two years mapping the moon's terrain, said the country's space agency.

India became the fifth nation to send a spacecraft to the moon after the U.S., Russia, Japan and China, the Indian Space Research Organization said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Chandrayaan I, or ``Moon Craft,'' will transmit data to the Indian Deep Space Network Campus on the outskirts of Bangalore.

The moon is the focus of international exploration 39 years after American Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on its surface. India's $78.9 million mission to map the moon's terrain is a first step toward landing an unmanned rover there by 2012.

The path taken by Chandrayaan I will be reduced in the coming days to achieve a final polar orbit of about 100 kilometers (62 miles) and a probe will be released to hit the lunar surface. Close-range images will be taken during the probe's 25-minute descent, the space agency said.

The spacecraft is also carrying mapping instruments for the European Space Agency, radiation-measuring equipment for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and two devices for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. One of the NASA devices will look for ice deposits in the lunar poles, while the other will assess the moon's mineral composition.

India launched its first rocket in 1963 and its first satellite in 1975. The country's satellite program consists of 21 orbiters, of which 11 are currently in service, making it one of the largest communication systems in the world.

Russia is India's main partner in space programs and has provided manufacturing and design technology. Most of India's space programs are developed by its own scientists.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net