The Indian flag is now on the moon after the sub-continent's first unmanned spacecraft successfully sent a probe onto the lunar surface.

The 30 kilogram Moon Impact Probe (MIP) from the Chandrayaan 1, Sanskrit for Moon Vehicle, crashed into the moon's surface at 2034 (1504 GMT) on Saturday, says the craft's developers, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Launched on October 22, Chandrayaan is India's first mission to the moon. Its' two year mission is to compile a 3D atlas of the lunar surface and map the distribution of elements and minerals.

Chandrayaan entered the moon's orbit earlier last week, some three weeks after it was launched from a space centre in southern India.

The dropping of the MIP, which recorded video footage on the way down to measure the composition of the Moon's tenuous atmosphere, successful concluded the first phase of the mission.

For the next two years, Chandrayaan 1 will map a three-dimensional atlas of the Moon and also check for the presence of water-ice with the help of instruments built by India and other countries including the US, Britain and Germany.

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