During the last nine months, all the 11 scientific payloads on board the spacecraft were started and the space network has been receiving excellent quality data about the moon.

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

The scientific objectives of the spacecraft are remote sensing of the moon in visible, near infrared, low energy x-ray and high-energy x-ray regions.

During the two-year expedition, some of the payloads will prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both near and far side of the moon, with a high spatial and altitude resolution of 5-10 metres.

'Specific instruments will conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface for collecting data on the distribution of elements such as magnesium, aluminium, silicon, calcium, iron and titanium, with a spatial resolution of about 25 km and high atomic number elements such as radon, uranium and thorium, with a spatial resolution of about 20 km,' the ISRO official said.

Of the five Indian payloads, the 34 kg moon impact probe (MIP) was landed on the lunar surface Nov 14 last year from a distance of 100 km after the spacecraft was inserted into the lunar orbit Nov 8.

During the 25-minute descent of the probe, its mass spectrometer measured the constituents of the thin lunar atmosphere. The spectrometer also analysed the chemicals and minerals of the moon and relayed the data to the ground station after the probe crashed into the lunar surface.

The probe, carrying three instruments and with the Indian flag painted on its outer panes, settled in a crater in the moon's south pole.