India eyes larger slice of satellite launch sector

INDIA: India's first moon mission not only makes it a serious player in space exploration but also holds the prospect of a bigger slice of the lucrative satellite launch market, analysts say.

The country staged a flawless launch Wednesday of its first unmanned lunar orbiting spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 - the Sanskrit word for Moon Craft - with an Indian-built rocket from its southeastern coast.

"The launch has considerable political significance as it's an assertion of India's credibility in the area of space exploration," said New Delhi-based strategic analyst Uday Bhaskar. If all goes to plan, the 1.5-tonne satellite should be flying over the pockmarked lunar surface November 11. It's being sent on a two-year mission to map in-depth the moon's topography and its mineral and chemical properties.

The launch, greeted with chest-thumping patriotism, "demonstrated the nation's growing technological potential," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India sees the space journey as further boosting its diplomatic weight in the wake of the recent deal on civilian atomic cooperation with the United States that ended its nuclear pariah status.

The main exploration goal of the thrifty lunar mission - it cost just 79 million dollars, less than half that of similar expeditions by other countries - is to assess and map lunar mineral resources, Indian officials say.

India aims to launch the first Indian into space by 2014 and maybe to put a man on the moon by 2020.

NEW DELHI, Thursday, AFP