India's moon impact probe to hit lunar surface Friday

Chennai, Nov 13 (IANS) The moon impact probe (MIP) abroad India's first lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 is expected to hit the lunar surface Friday evening, said a top official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

'Ninety-five percent of the moon mission is over successfully. I am not in a position to say when the MIP will land on the moon,' ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here Thursday.

According to him the unmanned Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft will map the moon to get an idea about the minerals present there.

Referring to Chandrayaan-2, he said the spacecraft will be launched in 2012.

The spacecraft will have a lander and a rover that will pick samples to analyse and send the data to earth.

He said ISRO is proceeding with the proposal to send a spacecraft to Mars. Its solar mission Aditya, to study the solar emissions, is also on track.