[ad_1]
India is looking to take a giant step forward in its space program and consolidate its place among the world's space nations with its second unmanned mission on the moon, which aimed to land a rover near the still unexplored South Pole.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to launch a spacecraft using local technology Monday, which is expected to land on the moon on September 6 or 7. The Chandrayaan-2 mission of US $ 141 million (NZ $ 211 million) will analyze minerals, map the surface of the moon and search for water.
She "will go bravely where no country has ever gone," said ISRO in a statement.
With India poised to become the fifth largest economy in the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, eagerly nationalistic, looks forward to showcasing the country's security and technology prowess.
READ MORE:
* Israel is flying in the moonlight in a boat barely the size of a washing machine
A Chinese rover in motion in the pioneering mission of the Moon
* A Chinese spacecraft makes its first landing on the hidden side of Moon
AP
India is looking to take a giant step in its space program and consolidate its place among the world's space nations.
India successfully tested an anti-satellite weapon in March, which, according to Modi, demonstrated the country's capacity as a space power alongside the United States, Russia and China. India is also planning to send human beings into space by 2022, becoming the fourth country to do so.
The ambitions of the country materialize in a race for the rebirth of space.
The United States, celebrating this month the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin the first humans on the moon, are striving to send an inhabited spacecraft to the South Pole. the Moon by 2024. In April, an Israeli missile crashed on the moon after an unsuccessful attempt at the first privately funded lunar landing.
ALTAF QADRI / AP
An employee kisses playfully a cutout of a crescent moon at the Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi, India.
Decades of space research has enabled India to develop satellite, communications and remote sensing technologies to solve everyday problems at home, from forecasting fish migration to predicting storms and storms. flooding.
The first Indian lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, whose name is "Sanskrit" for "moon craft", orbited around the moon in 2008 and confirmed the presence of water. In 2013-2014, India put a satellite into orbit around Mars as part of its first interplanetary mission.
Some wondered about spending in a country of 1.3 billion inhabitants, characterized by widespread poverty and one of the highest child mortality rates in the world. The author and economic commentator, Gurcharan Das, said that the cost of the second lunar campaign is low compared to India's overall budget and that the project could have a multiplier effect on the economy. .
He called on India to further involve the country's private sector in research and development, which he said could generate "huge benefits" beyond the field of travel in the country. ;space.
ALTAF QADRI / AP
An Indian woman takes a picture of her son while posing in the cutout of an astronaut at the Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi, India.
The probe will have a lunar orbiter, a lander and a rover. The LG will carry a camera, a seismometer, a thermal instrument and a laser retroreflector provided by NASA that will help calculate the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
The south lunar pole is particularly interesting because a much larger part of it is in the shade than the North Pole, which presents a greater possibility of water. Water is an essential ingredient in life and its discovery is part of the broader goal of science that is to determine if there is life elsewhere in our solar system.
This will be the first rover to look for water at the South Pole.
"These days, it has become the place to go," said space expert N Rathnasree.
[ad_2]
Source link