G Madhavan Nair said India and China were "on par (with each other) as far as rocket technology is concerned," the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Though China was ahead in planning a manned mission to the moon, "We are a step ahead of China in satellite technology," Nair, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation, told a gathering in the southern city of Coimbatore.

Two years ago, India announced it would launch a mission to the moon -- the Chandrayan-I or Moon Vehicle I -- by 2007.

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

The 2007 mission also aims at landing a small probe -- an "impacter" module weighing about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) -- on the surface of the moon.

Besides India, the United States, the European Space Agency, China and Japan are planning lunar missions during the next decade.

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