By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad, Sep 27 (IANS) German Aerospace Centre DLR is hoping that the data generated from India’s lunar mission ‘Chandrayaan-1’, to be launched next year, will help in its own proposed moon mission slated for launch in 2012.
“Chandrayaan-1 has good science and high resolution instruments and we expect that the data on different aspects of lunar exploration will benefit us. No agreement has been signed but we hope the scientific findings will help widen lunar exploration,” a DLR official told IANS.
DLR is one the scientific partners in Japan’s mission to the moon, ‘Kaguya’, which lifted off on Sep 14. The main aim of the project, also known as ‘Selene’, is to make further progress in answering the question of the origin and early development of the moon.
“Together with the Japanese mission, Chandrayaan-1 will be a big step forward in lunar exploration. China is also launching a moon mission but unfortunately not much is known about its science and technology as the military government there does not share the information,” said Ulrich Kohler of the Institute of Planetary Research, DLR.
The US is planning a manned mission to moon in 2014 and is also contemplating a lunar station. It will also be looking for data from Japanese and Indian missions as to ‘where they can land safely’.
“More missions will be better for lunar exploration and will provide fundamental insights into the early history of the solar system and the development of earth and the moon,” said Kohler.
DLR, which is part of European Space Agency (ESA), already has High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) working on Mars since Jan 2003. ESA has also planned missions to Venus, Saturn and Mercury.