Moon to be crowded in next few yearsâ?¦Countries racing for Moon

NI Wire

New Delhi

Thu, 27 Sep 2007: 

Sep 27: The International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2007) in Hyderabad open up promises and hope for future exploration of space by different countries of t world.

Several of countries had made the successful visit to the space and moon and many new visits are there on the card.

Race to reach moon and other planet is very much visible with the countries revealing their respective programme.

US Missions Impossible

Michael Griffin, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S., said that the first human being would land on Mars in 2037.

He said, “When this conference meets in 2057, I am convinced that we will be able to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first human landing on Mars”

Dr. Griffin said the next step in space exploration would be one step beyond the International Space Station (ISS), where 15 partners of the U.S. were engaged in building a platform for humanity above the earth’s atmosphere.

“We will learn from that — how to go beyond — first back to the moon and stay there for a substantial length of time and then on to Mars. In the process, we will build a civilisation for tomorrow and after that,” he declared.

India ’s Chandrayan

G. Madhavan Nair, chairman Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said Chandrayaan-I is getting ready for a launch in March-April next year.

“Ground work is in full swing at the Satish Dhawan space centre in Sriharikota for the lunar probe launch in the spring of 2008. Besides assembling the spacecraft, the launch vehicle, antennae and the observatory station are being set up for the D-day”, said Nair.

“Even after the current round of lunar missions, more questions about its origin, evolution and relevance will haunt space scientists. It is a never-ending exercise”, Rao noted.

Madhavan said that the government had not yet taken any decision to send an Indian into space.

Prof. U.R. Rao, former ISRO Chairman, said “We are assessing the technologies to be developed, the facilities needed” and the Indian scientific community wanted to “go its own way” on sending an Indian into space. This would take eight years.

China ’s Robotic Mission

China has planned to set up a lunar base after 2020, Ji Wu, Director of China’s Centre for Space Science and Applied Research revealed that China’s Change 1 lunar probe is now undergoing the final test at launch sites.

Ji Wu talked explicitly over Chinas space and moon mission, he said that China’s first lunar mission would be followed by robotic missions, which will be followed by a landing on the lunar surface and then returning back to earth surface.

He added that after 2020, the plan will be to "stay and live longer term" on the moon and utilise its resources.

"As a satellite of the Earth, it is a large platform that never stops and needs no maintenance," Ji said, citing the advantages of exploring the moon.

He talked about the extreme temperature on the lunar surface and that it can be used for industrial purpose and can be used as potential energy resources.

In Yang Liwei was the first Chinese to have orbited space, and China became the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a man in space.

China has also announced in March that it would launch a joint mission with Russia to Mars in 2009.

Russia ’s Three Steps

Anatoly N. Pernimov, Head, Federal Space Agency, Russia, said that their future program is human space flight and will consist of three major steps.

Their first step is to set up a multipurpose laboratory there at International Space Centre by 2015, next few years will be invested to build up a space crew, and the third step will be to develop near earth space infrastructure, which will form basis for human flights to the moon and mars.

Japan ’s secret ambition

Keiji Tachikawa, president, Japanese Space Exploration Agency, said that moon should be looked in the possibilities for human inhabitation and exploitation of its mineral resources. With the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) lunar mission, KAGUYA formerly known as Selene took off from Tanegashima Island in the southern coast.

JAXA is planning to carry out more such robotic missions to moon to explore its surface.

Hope for future

All the countries seem to be ready to kick off their respective programme for exploring the outside world, with the cooperation and coordination of all the nations vying to reach lunar surface.

There is concern regarding the pollution of the lunar environment and the space, which will be crowded in next few years.