The Indian Space Research Organisation signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Space Agency Monday to carry the additional payloads aboard India's Chandrayan-1 spacecraft, ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters.

The payloads will include instruments such as an X-ray detector, a particle detector and a multi-spectral imager.

ISRO is also in talks with the US National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) to carry a miniature imaging instrument to detect water ice in cold traps on the lunar poles up to a depth of a few metres (yards), Nair said.

"We have the capabilities to develop and manage a mission that would orbit the moon and enable a series of observations and measurements using specific instruments," he said.

The 590-kilogram (1,298-pound) Chandrayan-1 is expected to map the lunar terrain for minerals and conduct scientific experiments.

India has developed a tracking network to monitor the spacecraft while it is in orbit.

A special ground station is also being constructed near the southern city of Bangalore where ISRO is headquartered.

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