India rockets into Asian space race
Updated on 21 October 2008
India is set to launch its first lunar mission, putting the country in an elite group of nations with the scientific know-how to reach the moon and heating up a burgeoning Asian space race.
The Chandrayaan-1 will join Japanese and Chinese crafts in orbit around the moon for a two-year mission designed to map out the whole lunar surface. Chandrayaan means "Moon Craft" in ancient Sanskrit.
As India's economy has boomed in recent years it has sought to convert its new found wealth -- built on its high-tech sector -- into political and military clout and stake a claim as a world leader.
It is hoping that a moon mission -- coming just months after it finalised a deal with the US that recognises India as a nuclear power -- will further enhance that status.
"It is a remarkable technological achievement for the country," said S Satish, a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation, which plans to launch the 3,080-pound (1,400-kilogram) satellite from the Sriharikota space centre in southern India on Wednesday.
To date only the US, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China have sent missions to the moon.
In the last year Asian nations have taken the lead in exploring the moon.
In October 2007, Japan sent up the Kaguya spacecraft. A month later China's Chang'e-1 entered lunar orbit.
While the mission is India's first space expedition beyond the Earth's orbit, the head of India's space agency believes it can quickly catch China, its rival for Asian leadership.
"Compared to China, we are better off in many areas," Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair said in a magazine interview, citing India's advanced communication satellites and launch abilities.
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