NASA has chosen the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) to fly as part of the scientific payload for the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandraayan-1 mission, slated for launch in 2007, a United States Embassy press release informed.
The M3 is designed to create a mineral-resource map of the moon. It will be flown as part of the Chandraayan-1 mission if it is selected by ISRO in an independent competition.
"This exciting scientific experiment will provide detailed maps of the moon's surface geology and mineral composition for the first time," said NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Dr. Ghassem Asrar.
"The M3 investigation also complements the six experiments recently selected by NASA in response to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Announcement of Opportunity," he said.