He said serious studies by scientists are going on to explore possibilities of putting a human into space.

"The proposal is under active consideration by the government," Chavan said adding that Rs 95 crore had been sanctioned to conduct a detailed project report to make the cost-benefit analysis.

ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair had recently said that the report was ready and would be submitted to the goverment soon.

On the moon mission, Chavan said Chandrayaan-I spacecraft will orbit around the moon and during the two year mission period will provide high resolution images of the lunar surface.

"It will provide a three-dimensional atlas of the near and far side of the moon, chemical and mineralogical map of the entire lunar surface to study distribution of mineral and chemical elements," he said.

Chavan said ISRO had accomplished 20 major space missions during the 10th Five Year Plan and the number of communication transponders was increased from 100 to 200 during the plan period, exceeding the target of 175.

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