Chandrayaan-1 launch likely on 19 October

Mumbai: India's maiden moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, may lift off on 19 October from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, provided the weather permits, scientists associated with the mission said.

''The tentative date is 19 October," ISRO officials said in Bangalore after completing all the work on the 590 kg spacecraft that will carry 11 payloads.

''We have completed the integration of the satellite,'' Chandrayaan-1 director M Annadurai said at ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore.

Chandrayaan-1, which will be launched using the indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), will carry payloads from the US, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria apart from India's own.

The spacecraft will beam back digital elevation maps of the moon and its mineral concentration, as also carry out environmental studies and measure radioactivity on the lunar surface.

It will also look for traces of atomic elements such as radon, uranium and thorium.

The Chadrayaan-1 spacecraft would be shipped later this month to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota for the launch.

The government, meanwhile, announced that it has approved a sequel to the Rs400 crore mission few years down the line.

''The union cabinet today gave its approval for undertaking lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 and upgrading the associated existing ground segment at a total cost of Rs425 crore,'' information and broadcasting minister P R Dasmunsi said in New Delhi after a cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Manmohan Singh.