'The tentative date is Oct 19,' they said in Bangalore after completing all the work on the cuboid-shaped 590 kg spacecraft that will carry 11 payloads.

Meanwhile, the government Thursday approved a sequel to the mission few years down the line.

'The union cabinet today gave its approval for undertaking lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 and upgrading the associated existing ground segment at a total cost of Rs.425 crores (Rs.4.25 bn),' Information and Broadcasting Minister P.R. Dasmunsi told reporters in New Delhi after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Chandrayaan-1 will be launched by indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and will carry payloads of six foreign countries - the US, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria - apart from those of India.

Scientists said that the Chadrayaan-1 spacecraft will be shipped later this month, most likely on Sep 30, to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota for the launch.

'We have completed the integration of the satellite,' Chandrayaan-1 director M. Annadurai told reporters at ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore.

Chandrayaan-1, estimated to cost nearly Rs.4 billion, will beam back digital elevation maps of the moon and its mineral concentration, as also carry out environmental studies and measure radioactivity on the lunar surface.

It will try to find the traces of atomic elements such as Radon, Uranium and Thorium.

related report
Mission Moon Chandrayaan-I Unveiled
It looked like a colourful wrapped candy as the spacecraft that will launch India's maiden odyssey to the moon was unveiled here on Thursday.

The spacecraft, lodged at `Checkout 2' room at the centre is all decked up with golden multilayer insulated foils covering a major part of its body with the highly sophisticated components sitting snugly inside.

The integrated lunar spacecraft has successfully passed the thermal vaccuum test where the spacecraft was inserted into a huge simulator akin to a well and its chambers closed.

The temperature of the chamber using infra-red rays was raised to a maximum of 120 degrees and lowered to minimum of over minus 100 degrees to test its mechanical and system integrity, an ISRO official said.

"The test, carried over 20 days, simulated conditions akin to the harsh environment in the moon where temperature ranges from high to very low. The test ensured that all the components and packages integrated were working and there was no mechanical or system defect, the official told the media team.

The spacecraft built by ISRO in collaboration with other partners like HAL will carry 11 payloads, including five instruments developed by ISRO.

These include a Terrain Mapping Stereo Camera which could capture images having five m spatial resolutions (size of the smallest object that can be seen) and 20 km swath (width of the picture). This will help in topographic mapping of moon.

related report
Indian Cabinet Green Lights Chandrayaan-II
New Delhi: As space scientists prepare for India's maiden moon odyssey, the government has approved another lunar mission which entails landing a rover on the earth's natural satellite.

The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gave the nod to Chandrayaan-II which is to be an Indo-Russian mission with a projected launch in 2011-12.

The Cabinet also approved upgrading the associated existing ground segment at a total cost of Rs 425 crore including a foreign exchange component of Rs 293.50 crore, Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters here.

Scientists are planning to land a rover on the moon for carrying out chemical analysis of the lunar surface and explore other resources there.

"In situ chemical analysis and resource exploration is the main objective of Chandrayaan-II," a scientist associated with the mission said.

India had begun initial technical discussions on Chandrayaan-II which is expected to be a much shorter mission than Chandrayaan-I scheduled for launch later this year.

An agreement for Chandrayaan-II was signed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Roskosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow in November last year.

Mineral samples from the moon contained Helium 3, a variant of the gas used in refrigerators, and Chandrayaan-II will also look out for the gas which experts believe may offer a solution to energy shortages. The current Chinese moon mission is also exploring this prized source of energy.

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