India's moon mission is NASA's 'return to moon

The successful Chandrayaan-1 blast off from Sriharikota early on Wednesday morning is not only India's big leap into the space, but is also a significant step forward for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the American space agency.

NASA, which has sent two instruments abroad Chandrayaan to map the lunar surface, has termed the Indian mission as NASA's 'return to moon'.

It is not only scientists in India who are anxiously watching the progress of Chandrayaan, as it entered into the orbital space, top NASA scientists too are keeping a close watch on and its progress.

NASA has established a primary location as its ground tracking station at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel. A team of NASA scientists too are keeping a watch on the Indian mission.

"The opportunity to fly NASA instruments on Chandrayaan-1 undoubtedly will lead to important scientific discoveries," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in a statement before Chandrayan-1 blastoff.

"This exciting collaboration represents an important next step in what we hope to be a long and mutually beneficial relationship with India in future civil space," Griffin said.

With the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal in place, NASA officials now believe that Indo-US co-operation in Chandrayan could be the beginning of a long-term permanent relationship between the scientists of the two countries.

In addition to the two science instruments, NASA is also providing space communications support to the India's Lunar Mission.

Of the two NASA instruments on board Chandrayan-1, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper will assess mineral resources. The second the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar, or Mini-SAR, will map the Polar Regions and look for ice deposits.

"Data from the two instruments will contribute to NASA's increased understanding of the lunar environment as it implements the nation's space exploration policy, which calls for robotic and human missions to the moon," NASA said in a statement.