A few hours later, the Indian Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas at Byalalu, about 40 km from Bangalore, also received the same data along with Chandrayaan's orientation information while bi-static observations were made.

'ISRO and NASA scientists will analyse the observational data from the experiment to find out whether water is present in the form of ice on the dark lunar surface in the crater, which is away from sunlight,' the space agency added.

Chandrayaan was launched amid fanfare October 22, 2008, from India's only spaceport Sriharikota, about 90 km north-east of Chennai, onboard the 316-tonne polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11) and inserted into the lunar orbit Nov 8. A week later, its moon impact probe (MIP) was crashed into the lunar surface Nov 16.

The 11 scientific payloads onboard the lunarcarft continue to send high quality data as per planned sequence to its ground station (DSN).

The mooncraft has orbited around the moon 3000 times over the last nine months and its high-resolution cameras relayed over 70,000 digital images of the lunar surface, providing breathtaking views of mountains and craters, including those in the permanently shadowed area of the moon's polar region.

Of the 11 scientific instruments (payloads), five are Indian. Of the other six, three are from the European Space Agency (ESA), two from the NASA of the US and one from Bulgaria.