By Sunil Raman
BBC News, Delhi
India will launch its first unmanned mission to the Exoplanet circles 'normal star' ...
Iran successfully launches dummy satellite ...
Brazil's president tries to salvage Doha talks ... moon on 22 October, the country's space officials say, weather conditions permitting.
The spacecraft, named Chandrayaan-1, will orbit round the moon surveying its surface with high-resolution equipment.
The launch had been scheduled for April. But it was pushed back due to technical problems.
The project will cost $83m and has the direct involvement of six other countries, including the United States.
Over the next two years, it will survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of the moon's chemical characteristics and its three-dimensional topography.
The European Space Agency is supporting the mission, supplying with three instruments.
These will survey the moon's geological composition, the effect of space weathering on its surface and X-ray spectroscopy of the moon.
'Over ambitious'
India announced its moon mission in 2003.
It has also announced plans to send a man to the moon in the next few years.
The government's moon mission has not been welcomed by all.
Critics say it is "over ambitious" and a "waste of resources" in a country where millions still lack basic services.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was founded in 1969, and launched its first satellite in 1975.
Since then, it has developed a number of launch vehicles as well as satellites for Earth observation, remote sensing, telecommunications and weather forecasting.
Together with China and Japan, it is part of a fast-developing Asian space sector.
(BBC)
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