People watching the live stream of the Indian lander landing on the lunar surface. Picture taken in Ahmedabad, India on August 23 – Photo: REUTERS
More than 50 years after man first set foot on the Moon, a new race is on for Earth’s only natural satellite. On 23 August, India became the first country to land on the South Pole of the Moon with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, achieving a historic feat after a similar but failed attempt by Russia.
military, strategic, economic value
“When I was growing up in the 1970s, the space sector was dominated by two rival superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, during the Cold War,” Dr. Peter Martinez, executive director of the World Security Fund, said at the opening. Of a comment recently published in Anadolu News Agency (Turkey).
Now more and more countries – in unprecedented numbers – are preparing to adventure to the Moon. Japan is set to launch the Lunar Investigative Intelligent Lander (SLIM) on March 28, soon after Russia’s latest lunar mission failed and India landed a lander on the Moon’s south pole.
South Korea is also planning a similar moon landing this year. Meanwhile, other countries such as Canada, Mexico and Israel are planning to send rovers to explore the lunar surface.
There are also six international space agencies working with NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon by 2025. Meanwhile, China is planning to send its astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2030.
During the 1960s, when the United States and the Soviet Union were racing to be the first countries to set foot on the Moon, the search for Earth’s only natural satellite was directed mostly by government and space agencies. Implementing Country.
According to the Financial Times, at the time the race to the moon was mainly for national pride. But now the partners and objectives have changed. Although exploration activities, including lunar missions, are still dominated by major economies, an increasing number of countries and private companies are participating.
Dr. Brian Weeden at the World Defense Fund (USA) said that many current lunar missions also aim to determine “what’s really useful out there”. He said: “Some people think that a presence on the Moon would bring great military, strategic and economic value. Others think that there are resources on the Moon that people need.”
Why Moon?
“For space exploration technology, the cost has come down a lot and in some cases it has been commercialized. That’s why more and more countries are interested in space. And when they are interested in space. For space, The Moon becomes a mammoth but achievable goal,” explained Dr. Brian Weeden.
It is very important for India to choose the south pole of the moon for landing. When the last American Apollo mission took off from the Moon in 1972, scientists predicted that the Moon was dry and barren. But since then, investigations have shown that large amounts of frozen water (water ice) and rare earth metals may be lurking in cold, dark craters at the Moon’s south pole.
Both China and the US want to use this region of the Moon as a base to aid exploration on the far side of the Moon, with the long-term goal of learning how to live and work on another planet. If not for drinking, ice can also be used to extract fuel or oxygen. More valuable resources are also expected to be found on the Moon to support future exploration missions.
“Our goal is to learn how to live and work on the Moon and do studies on the Moon, so that when we can,” said Jim Frey, senior member of NASA’s Exploratory Systems Development Officer. We’re about to go to Mars. ,
Currently, NASA is spending about $93 billion on the Artemis program through 2025. Companies from all over the world are also getting involved in this. Meanwhile, American companies such as Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic are vying to conduct the first commercial moon landing this year after Japanese company iSpace’s failed landing last month.4.
“It’s very bullish right now,” said analyst Dallas Kasabowski of aerospace consulting firm NSR.
Mr Kasabowski estimates that the world now has more than 400 government and private Moon missions planned for the 2022-2032 period, up from the 250 missions forecast a year ago.
He pointed out that while many of the current programs, including the recent India mission, were planned several years ago, “over the last two years the world has seen a strong commitment and growth in activities to the Moon.”
cheap but still tough
More and more countries are joining the race to the moon as the cost of reaching and operating in space comes down rapidly. NASA estimates that the development of commercial reusable rockets, such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9, has cut the cost of launching into low Earth orbit by up to 95%.
However, going to the Moon is still risky due to the lack of satellite navigation to guide the spacecraft through the hostile environment and terrain. Bledin Bowen, Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Leicester (UK), commented: “Space is a place where dreams are shattered. Getting things right is still extremely difficult.”
India and ambition sent to the moon
(TagstoTranslate) Moon
