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SRIHARIKOTA, India – The Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, launches its robotic Chandrayaan-1 rocket with two NASA instruments aboard on India's maiden moon voyage to map the lunar surface. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper will assess mineral resources, and 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. In addition to the two science instruments, NASA will provide space communications support to Chandrayaan-1. The primary location for the NASA ground tracking station will be at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Photo credit: NASA