Chandrayaan - indian mission to moon

Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to the Moon, will be "slightly delayed" from its original April launch this year as space scientists work on inter-compatibility of various instruments on board and conduct tests, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

The eagerly awaited mission was originally scheduled to be launched on April nine or April 23 from India's spaceport of Sriharikota, but Nair said ISRO needed more time.

"We are conducting tests on various instruments. There are a large number of instruments and we have to conduct inter-compatibility checks," Nair, also Secretary in the Department of Space, told reporters here.

"We have to review the test results. We will finalise the launch date by the end of February," he said.

Asked if the mission would take place in June, he said: "Much earlier than that. It's not a very major delay. April (the original launch date) appears difficult. We have run out of time." "We have now worked out mission strategy in which we can go (launch Chandrayaan-1 mission) on any day in a month. That way, we don't have that constraint," he said.

Nair said the slight delay in the mission had nothing to do with the Cartosat-2A launch by PSLV from Sriharikota by March-end or early April and noted that ISRO has flexibility, as it has two launch pads in the spaceport.