Chandrayaan: India's First Mission to the Moon

Chandrayaan I (Sanskrit lit: Lunar Craft), is an unmanned lunar mission by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The mission includes a lunar orbiter as well as an impactor. The spacecraft will be launched by a modified version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

The remote sensing satellite will weigh 1304 kg (590 kg initial orbit mass and 504 kg dry mass) and carry high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain water ice.

ISRO also announced that planning has now made enough progress that they are confident that the mission will take place 3rd quarter 2008. They estimate the cost to be INR 3.8 billion (US$ 83 million).

The mission includes five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies such as NASA and ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency .

Source/Reference: ISRO Wikipedia