India's moon mission puts it alongside China, Japan and US in lunar race

[JakeMD 107]

India's moon mission puts it alongside China, Japan and US in lunar race

India's launch of an unmanned lunar mission puts the country alongside China, Japan and the US in a renewed race to explore the moon.

Source:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3240179/Indias-moon-mission-puts-it-alongside-China-Japan-and-US-in-lunar-race.html

Europe's first lunar orbiter, SMART-1, completed its mission in 2006. Here are some planned future lunar missions:

- India's Chandrayaan-1 (moon vehicle) spacecraft which blasted off from a southern spaceport will map a three-dimensional atlas of the moon, and the surface's chemical and mineral composition.

India plans to send an astronaut into space by 2014, and a manned mission to the moon by 2020.

- China launched its first moon orbiter in October last year to scan the lunar surface in preparation for an unmanned moon vehicle planned for 2012. Chang'e 1, named after a Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, has since sent back images from the lunar surface.

Last month China launched its third manned space mission culminating in the country's first space walk.

- Japan launched a lunar probe on Sept 14 last year nearly four years behind schedule. The mission, nicknamed Kaguya after a moon princess in a Japanese folktale, consisted of a main orbiter and two baby satellites equipped with 14 observation instruments designed to examine surface terrain, gravity and other lunar features for clues on the origin and evolution of the moon.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) hopes to send astronauts to the moon by 2025, although Japan has not yet attempted manned space flights

- The US space agency, NASA, plans to build a permanently occupied base on the moon, most likely at the lunar south pole, which will serve as a science outpost as well as a testbed for technology needed for future travel to Mars. The construction will follow a series of flights to the moon scheduled to begin by 2020. It also plans to provide a communications system linking Earth and the moon.

Britain could send its first unmanned mission to the moon by 2010 to study the lunar surface and find the best site for humans to inhabit, according to the BBC

quote>

[Easy Bakes 253]

Whooo

Go Science.

30 years to late but what the heck

[Duke87 1,070]

How exactly are China, Japan, and India alongside the US in the lunar race?

Last I checked, we were there almost 40 years ago. None of them have ever been there.

Only country who can really claim to be alongside the US is the USSR... and, well, they don't exist anymore.

[Ace_F15 16]

Duke's right. Also, I think this will be pushed back to 2030 at least.

[Micah 16]

Well, I'm glad to see the Second Space Race to get a kick start out of this, but I think the economic downturn will force nations to move their budgets elsewhere for the time being.

[fukuda 351]

Britain could send its first unmanned mission to the moon by 2010 to study the lunar surface and find the best site for humans to inhabit, according to the BBCquote>

Britain? Using an ESA or NASA vector, I guess

[AndisArt 2,068]

Great news! NASA has dominated for too long. And competition always gives a boost. Along with private space travel starting next year we can expect to have exciting space times ahead!

[Msprintz 25]

Originally posted by: andisart Great news! NASA has dominated for too long.quote>

  Nasa dominating, that's hillarious.  Our American space program hasn't dominated at all, infact it was Soviet Russia that had the early lead in the space race.  Sure we were the first nation that reached the moon, but it was Russia that put the first person into orbit.  We very much played second fiddle to the Soviet space program, there's no doubt about that.  

What little lead we have now is hardly domination either.  We're also at risk of being left behind by other nations again, mostly due to the governments unwillingness to provide NASA with adequate funding.  Although I'm sure by some luck we'll manage to build a base on the moon before others.    

[hamsterTK 93]

Sometimes I wonder if it really matters who goes up, because from the perspective of science it's just about a human going into space.

In 1969 man walked on the moon. Man did, that's all that really matters.

[fukuda 351]

Indeed, from the perspective of science this is just useless and has caused the cancelling of several scientific missions, but from the perspective of propaganda, this is just wooot!

[pogoboymtk 9]

Originally posted by: hamsterTK ...Man did, that's all that really matters.quote>

I couldn't agree more. It's about time that human beings started looking at themselves as a "single" entity. Variety through different cultures is a great thing, but fundamentally we are all the same and we need to think of it in that manner.

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Hahayoudied 3]

Do realize that there are still private companies that are paid to fire satelitts into the outer space. NASA didn't have much funding from the U.S. government, which caused it to slow down in it's launching their rockets.

[Red1530 1]

I have to congratulate the Indians on their first Moon mission.

[thesimbug 0]

the most concern we must give to any country's space program, in my opinion, is not the scientific progress it promises, nor, moreover, the private space travel tourism we may soon enjoy in the not too long future.

big bucks are poured by governments to this serious gigantic programs not merely to gain relatively simple causes (though they, to be sure, contribute to the governments' motivations to run space programs).

there's something hard and concrete behind this all.

it's all about politics.

political propaganda?

yes, it's a super expensive project of prestige to gain such things.

but there's something harder and more concrete about this:

MILITARIZATION OF SPACE.

it's all about politics: game of power.

don't go too far to president reagan's STAR WARS initiative proposed three decades ago when i was still achild.

right now, right this time, we see the us and russia get into strained relations due to the us' plan to build NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE system, a system to intercept incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles which come, it says, from iran.

and for an example of newcomers-to-space-club's interest in the militarization of space, on january 11, 2007, super-power-will-be china blasted its weather satellite feng yun, an ANTI SATELLITE MISSILE TEST it claimed as a mere destroying of an old dysfunctioning satellite.

it's all about politics.

it's all about power.

it's all about how to dictate a country's national interest on other countries with real concrete hard power.

(well, not that "all", actually)

[belfastuniguy 18]

Britain? Using an ESA or NASA vector, I guessquote>

No actually, the UK will be doing it themselves. Though they will maintain their partnership with NASA and ESA. However, the moon mission will be lead by UK companies and research institutes.

[BurroDiablo 222]

Last time I checked... the US went up there in the late 60's to spite the Russians and discovered it was a giant waste of time because there was no unlimited supply of Cheese. Nixon lied. In all seriousness though... this is just a game of Patriotism, just like the last space race... all it will succeed in is flooding Asia with cheap lead based Space themed toys and creating so much Space debris that it'll be hailing flaming metal for the next decade. You wont be able to send satellites up there for more than a few months without them being knocked out by a petrified Onion Baji.

[Muck308 55]

Let's start a new company. Space Debris Clean-up Org. Anyone have a few million dollars under their matress?

[jj88 24]

This could prove for interesting times ahead