NEW DELHI, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- India has begun technical discussions with Russia on the joint moon mission Chandrayaan-II which is expected to be launched in 2011-12, according to Press Trust of India Tuesday.

    An agreement for Chandrayaan-II was signed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Roskosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow last month.

    Chandrayaan-II will benefit from India's maiden moon mission which will survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography over a two-year period, the report said.

    The survey of the lunar surface will help scientists identify the exact place for landing the rover and strategic locations to carry out experiments, said Mylaswamy Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-I.

    Annadurai visited Russia late last month to hold initial technical discussions on Chandrayaan-II, which is expected to be a much shorter mission than Chandrayaan-I scheduled for launch on April 9, 2008.