Top researchers of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and international scientists have expressed satisfaction on the “excellent” performance of the Chandrayaan-1 mission and quality of data sent by the spacecraft.

Scientists from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and European Space Agency (ESA) met with Isro officials in Bangalore on September 7 and 8 and reviewed the data sets obtained from the 11 payloads (scientific instruments) on-board the spacecraft.

During the meeting, held a little over a week after the premature death of India’s moon mission, the scientists said that the payloads had largely met their objectives of studying the moon from different perspectives. The team did not discuss reasons for the termination of the mission.

Isro officials said that the scientists have started formulating science plans based on the data sets obtained from the mission. It is expected that in the next few months interesting results about lunar topography, mineral and chemical contents of the moon and relatedaspects be published from the data obtained from the moon mission.

Chandrayaan-1 was launched on October 22, 2008 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh with 11 scientific instruments, including three from ESA, two from Nasa and one from Bulgaria. The remaining five was from Isro.

The technology mission, despite Isro losing contact with the spacecraft, has been completed successfully. The mission will take between 6 months to 3 years for detailed analysis of data.