Bangalore: Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman and MP K Kasturirangan on October 21 said India would earn global respect if it proved its capabilities in launching the unmanned mission to the moon.

"We have the required capability and we should demonstrate the capability to say we are in the club, then it is respected," Kasturirangan said in his lecture on 'Space and Law' organised by the Karnataka Judicial Academy.

"We have the capability to reach the moon...we better reach the moon and put our flag on it," he said, reiterating that global respect would be gained if India demonstrates its strength in a moon mission.

He said the unmanned moon mission would be followed by planetary explorations in the future.

The government has sanctioned Rs 386 crore for the proposed unmanned lunar mission, "Chandrayan- 1", in which a lunar orbiter would be launched by an indigenous PSLV rocket during 2008.

Stating that there was a "moon agreement" of 1979, to which India is a signatory, that prohibited any nation to stake claim on the moon, Kasturirangan said, he was however apprehensive in the wake of violations and restrictions in similar agreements like Antarctica and the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

He said a UN charter prohibits use of space for nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction.

PTI