India eyes joint lunar mission with Japan

Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-18 14:22:20|Editor: Lifang
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NEW DELHI, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- India is mulling a joint mission to the moon with Japan, the country's top space official said.

"We are looking at a future for a possible joint lunar mission," state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief A.S. Kiran Kumar told the media Friday.

"In the future, we will also be looking at how we can make use of this relationship for generating more input for climate change studies," he added.

India successfully launched its first mission, Chandrayaan-1, to the moon in 2008.

Chandrayaan-1 was launched on Oct. 22, 2008, and included a probe, impactor and orbiter. Its moon impact probe crash-landed on the lunar surface on Nov. 14, 2008.

The mission was lauded for costing a fraction - about 80 million U.S. dollars - of similar missions. The Japanese's SELENE cost 480 million U.S. dollars.

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