Bangalore: India will go ahead with an "unmanned mission" to moon ahead of a planetary mission, which Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) says the country's scientific community is very much excited about.

"This a very modest mission that we are planning…if every thing goes well and the country has interest on this, it will be the first step of a larger plan for a planetary exploration," ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan said.

The unmanned moon mission, christened "Somayana-1", is awaiting the government's approval and is expected to be undertaken in 2007-08.

Dismissing the dissenting voices raised by some scientists on the moon mission, Kasturirangan said, instead, the scientific community was very excited about it.

"They see a lot of science is possible, contrary to something that has appeared," he said on media reports of scientists from space and other fields questioning ISRO's rationale of undertaking a lunar mission.

He said ISRO's plan was similar to that of the other countries, which were undertaking moon mission.

"It is also in conformity with the new decade and new century's direction elsewhere in the world – that of planetary exploration," Kasturirangan said.

He said the mission would give a boost to Indian science and technology besides giving the young generation an opportunity to work on new technologies and a "new direction" for the country.

Kasturirangan said even as the government's approval was awaited, ISRO was gearing up to master new technology areas in control guidance and navigation of orbits for the mission.

He said during the review meeting of the national task force on the moon mission held on April 4 in Bangalore, scientists were excited and saw "lot of science on the one hand" and "technology" on the other to benefit from the project.

Dismissing the view that Rs 400 crore for the mission could be utilised for other socio-economic projects, Kasturirangan said the money is available for any worthwhile development effort in the country.

"There is money available for any development effort…it need not be from the space budget. Look at the opportunities from the mission," he said.

ISRO plans to send a low altitude (100 kms) polar orbiter for global imaging, mineralogy and chemical mapping with high spatial and spectral resolution sensors.

The mission would also study the South Pole Aitkin region on far aside and North and South Polar regions, conduct high energy X-ray studies from a distance of 100 kms from the moon's surface, ISRO officials said.

Several stable and radioactive elements will be obtained to understand its origin and evolutionary history of moon.

To be launched using the indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the proposed moon probe plans to prepare a three-dimensional atlas (with a high spatial and altitude resolution of 5-10 metres) of some regions of the moon, the officials said.

PTI