India participates in the space race

The second most populous country in the world will launch unmanned spacecraft onto Moon's orbit today.

Chandrayaan-1, the spacecraft built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), will be launched from a space center early in the morning on October 22 and enter the Moon's orbit after 16 hours of flight.

Chandrayaan-1 will be launched at Satish Dhawan space center in Sriharikota, India.(Photo: Reuters)

"We will go to the Moon for the first time. China and Japan have been there and now we are trying to catch up with them," said Bhaskar Narayan, an ISRO director.

ISRO affirmed that they launched a spacecraft on the Moon not only for national pride, but also for scientific benefits. One of Chandrayaan-1's main tasks is to find Helium 3, a Helium isotope that is scarce on Earth but is essential for nuclear decay. Many scientists believe that, in the future, Helium 3 may become an important energy source. They believe this substance is quite common on the Moon.

In addition, Chandrayaan-1 is also responsible for thoroughly exploring the Moon to search for precious metals and water. " We will make a three-dimensional spatial map of the Moon's surface for chemical and mineral identification ," Bhaskar said.

The Chandrayaan-1 manufacturing project costs $ 79 million, much less than the Chinese and Japanese projects in 2007.