It was in December 1972, when the man last stepped on the Moon. It's been more than 50 years since space agencies across the world, including India, have renewed their interest to return to the lunar surface. Water and increased availability of elements like oxygen, silicon, iron, titanium and hydrogen have been the major attractions for the race to return to the Moon. Also, it could provide a gateway to other interplanetary missions.
Scientists further believe that a lunar outpost may serve as a backup for civilisation in case of a global catastrophe, like an asteroid impact or a pandemic.
The latest in the race has been Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), which is also known as "Moon Sniper" in Japanese. With the “precision landing”, (Japan) on January 20 (2024) have become the fifth country to successfully land on the Moon, post Russia, US, China and India.
However, the lander appears to be lying upside-down, and it cannot generate power- said the mission officials at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who hope the probe will be able to recharge when the moon enters its daytime in the coming days.
A US-based probe Peregrine lunar l, which lifted off on January 8 suffered an "anomaly”, and stands no chance of making a soft landing on the Moon.
Mission officials at the Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology found a critical loss of propellant due to “the failure within the propulsion system”. This forced the officials to reroute the NASA-backed lander for Earth, where it found assured destruction as it burned up during re-entry.
Another Houston-based Intuitive Machines also aims to launch a lander to the Moon in mid-February on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket this year.
Currently, about six space missions from three countries -- India (1), US (4), and South Korea (1) are revolving in the Moon’s orbit.
Last year India’s Chandrayaan-3 made history with a successful landing on the coveted South Pole of the lunar surface. Previously spacecrafts have landed successfully only on the Moon closer to the equator. Days before the Chandrayaan-3 landing, Russia’s Luna-25 lander crashed while approaching the moon.
It is majorly due to the tricky landing owing to the uneven terrain and because there is no sunlight. The South pole is also not visible from the Earth, and so it is also difficult to establish communication with the spacecraft there.
Dr Reetanjali Moharana, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, IIT Jodhpur, told IANS: "South side of the Moon is of special interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shown areas around it. Extreme contrasting conditions make it a challenging location for Earthlings to land, live, work, but the unique characteristics hold promise for unprecedented deep space scientific discoveries that could help us learn about outplacement in the universe and venture farther into the solar system."
Dr Subba Rao Pavuluri, Founder and CMD of Ananth Technologies (ATL) India said, “Number one reason to go to the Moon as it will help us to go to other planets. Number two is the abundance of some rare metals like helium and lithium on the Moon which has caught the interest of worldwide scientists. And as resources around the globe are dwindling, this may be a way for strengthening ourselves for humanity tomorrow."
The firm, which has been a long-standing partner of ISRO in launch vehicles and satellites, has contributed to the launch vehicle (LVM3) for Chandrayaan-3.
A host of missions from various countries have been planned to the Moon, while NASA with its Artemis III aims to land the first woman and the first person of colour on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term, sustainable presence and serving as a gateway for future astronaut missions to Mars.
Countries like Israel, Russia and China are also willingto launch orbital and lander missions to the Moon soon.
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Inputs from IANS
