Fifty years since man first walked on the moon. India’s space ambitions are taking a giant leap.
With the launch of its second moon vehicle or Chandrayaan 2, India will go where no other country ever has, the lunar south pole.
India’s first moon mission, Chandrayaan 1 was launched in 2008. It did not explore the moon, but that mission is how the world discovered water ice on the moon.
Space expert Ajay Lele says the latest lunar mission will attempt to build on that finding by exploring the untouched southern pole.
“It is expected that this area will have solidified icewater in the form of ice. If you want to undertake any future missions when human beings will go to the moon, water will be the main necessity. So, now what India is trying to do is get more benefits out of this mission, to see how this water can be made usable.”
However, before it begins its explorations, India’s moon vehicle will have to clear its biggest hurdle, executing a controlled or soft landing on the moon’s surface.
Only three countries have done this before- the US, China and Russia.
The mission has three parts, an orbiter, a lander and a rover. A soft landing is a tricky manoeuvre, the lander must slow down just above the moon’s surface, descend carefully without crashing and only then will the rover be able to carry out its lunar experiments.
The entire mission is indigenous and will cost only 140 million dollars – a fraction of the cost of other global space missions.
However, India’s space foray has its citizens divided.
“I feel there are other areas that the government should prioritise. This money could have been better utilised to improve education standards, for creating jobs and for helping the poor.”
“Sending a rocket into space is not an easy feat and this is something unique that India can claim credit for. We should all be proud.”
India wants to send astronauts into space by 2022 and set up its own space station in the next decade. Chandrayaan’s success will decide how ambitious the country can be in the future. There’s a lot at stake for India to get this right.
