Sanctions off; NASA lab asks ISRO to partner for moon mission

New Delhi, Feb 13 (PTI) With the US lifting sanctions on
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a top NASA
laboratory has approached the Indian space agency with a
proposal to collaborate for a moon mission aimed at getting
back a kilogram of rocks from the lunar surface.
The iconic Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which has
sent missions to Mars and Venus, wants ISRO to put a satellite
around the moon which will be a link between its lunar lander
probe and the earth.
"The mission is similar to the Chandrayaan-I mission. JPL
has asked ISRO to put a satellite around the moon," ISRO
Chairman K Radhakrishnan said here.
The Space Commission, India's apex space policy body, has
given ISRO the go-ahead to partner with JPL for the project
named 'Moon Rise' which could be launched by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under its New
Frontiers Programme announced in 2009.
As part of the project, JPL plans to drop a robotic
lander into a basin at the moon's south pole to send lunar
rocks back to Earth for study.
The mission, if selected, would be launched in 2016.
The 400-500 kg satellite is being planned to have a life
of up to five years and could also carry some scientific
experiments of ISRO, Radhakrishnan said.
He said the proposal was an outcome of India-US
cooperation announced during the visit of President Barack
Obama to India last year.
He said India's contribution to the project could amount
to about 150 million dollars.
The mission is part of a joint proposal with JPL which
will be put up before NASA.
"We will take forward the proposal and work out a detail
plan once NASA selects the proposal," Radhakrishnan said.
NASA has selected three proposals as candidates for the
agency's next space venture to another celestial body in the
solar system. The final project selected in mid-2011 may
provide a better understanding of Earth's formation or perhaps
the origin of life on Earth.