BANGALORE: A warm glow in the sky marked India's entry into an exclusive club of Moon faring nations, which so far had only five members.

The Chandrayaan's next step will be planting the Tricolour on the moon when it sends down the Moon impact probe, which will explore it from very close range.

Once Chandrayaan-1 is in the designated lunar orbit, it will be re-oriented for this special task. An instrument, about the size of a computer monitor and so far carried piggyback by the Chandrayaan, will be released from 100 kilometres above the Moon.

The instrument will then strike the Moon's surface at a designated spot in about 20 minutes.

During the journey, it will take images of the Moon, analyse the soil and send back data to the mother ship before it crashes into pieces. But before that, the probe will have planted the Tricolour.

America and Japan have already planted their flags on the Moon. The last successful probe was sent by Russia in 1976. If successful, India will be only the fourth nation to send a probe to the Moon.

India's achievement on its maiden Moon mission will also be a big geo-political step, putting it ahead of regional rival China.

"The Indian Moon mission has been a success so far and we are now ready to undertake the next step," said Dr L Sinivasan, a scientist at ISRO, Bangalore.

India's maiden Moon mission has been a remarkable success so far; the signals to release the probe with the Indian flag on it will be sent from a giant dish antenna, which is in constant conversation with the spacecraft.