Chandrayaan on course, will begin moon orbit by Saturday

Gandhinagar, Nov 4 (IANS) Indian space scientists are hopeful that Chandrayaan-1 will Saturday start orbiting the moon.

'If everything goes right, by Nov 8, Chandrayaan-1 will start circling the moon,' said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Madhavan Nair here Tuesday.

The last orbit-raising manoeuvres to enter the lunar transfer trajectory were completed Tuesday by the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore, he said.

The ISRO will soon launch Bhuvan that will provide online maps based on the Geographical Information System (GIS) similar to that of Google Earth, said Nair, who was here to attend the inaugural 28th International Congress on Mapping and Space Technology-INCA-2008.

The 28th International Congress has been organised jointly by ISRO and the International Cartographic Association with participation of about 400 delegates from India, the US, Australia, Germany and other countries.