New Delhi: Israel has shown a keen interest in participating in India's moon mission, 'Chandrayaan-I'.

A number of countries had shown interest in joining the mission and Israel was the latest among these, an official release said today (Dec 24, 2003).

Israeli Science and Technology Minister Eliezer Sandberg is currently in India and the issue of space technology and applications was discussed between the Israeli delegation and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) authorities in Bangalore, it said.

The two countries had already taken up a joint project on the study of ultra violet science and space-astrophysics.

Other countries participation in the moon mission would vary from taking part in experiments to utilisation of facilities and analysis of data. Russia is a major partner in the programme, with whom a memorandum of understanding had been signed. It covers cooperation in space navigation system.

Under the already approved Rs 386 crore project, a lunar probe would be launched by India's own PSLV in a polar orbit of about 100 kms altitude around the moon from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

This mission would be devoted to high-resolution remote sensing of the lunar surface features and mineral composition in visible, near infrared, low and high-energy X-ray regions. It would provide scientists an opportunity to study origin, features and composition of the lunar surface. The mission is planned to be achieved in five years.