Joining the league of countries being about to carry out deep space tracking, India now enters the space industry along with China, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Russia.

Just recently, India managed to install two dish antennas 32 meters and 18 meters in diameter. The antennas are part of an elaborate network costing one billion rupees, or US$ 25 million. The entire set-up is located in Byalalu, 45 kilometers away from the city of Bangalore.

One of the functions of the deep space tracking facility is to send commands as well as receive signals and scientific data transmitted from spacecraft. The facility will also serve as the base station for planetary exploration in the future.

India also has plans to launch its own spacecraft for moon exploration, the Chandrayaan-1, which will make its own lunar orbit 385,000 kilometres away from earth. The country will also conduct its own robotic mission next year, which will be followed by another in year 2012.