Moon mission: ‘World’s envy, India’s pride’
Exactly 50 years and two days after Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon’s surface, his ‘giant leap’ fulfilling a long human quest and bridging the gulf between imagination and reality, India too has launched its most audacious and challenging space mission, Chandrayaan-II, backed by the blessings of its billion-plus citizens. The gigantic 3,850 kg GSLV-MKIII-M1 rocket, the nation’s most powerful, standing more than 14 storeys high, soared majestically on July 22 into space from Sriharikota with its payload, overcoming glitches that had aborted the initial lift-off a week ago.
The mission is audacious because of the bid to land on the dark side of the moon, a feat only China could accomplish among prime space-faring nations like Russia and the United States. Consequently, the forbidding hemisphere, also known as the lunar South Pole, remains unexplored because of extreme topographical features, existence of thousands of craters and lowest temperatures in the entire solar system. The South Pole is also a region of mind-boggling contrasts. Its holds the highest peak towering over Mount Everest at 10.9 km, besides housing what could probably be the solar system’s largest crater, the South Pole–Aitken basin (SPA), roughly 2,500 km across with a depth of 13 km.
The gigantic basin is believed to hold some of nature’s most closely guarded secrets in its bosom, bearing on creation and evolution and of what constitutes the deep layer of both the Moon and the Earth system, with rocks as old as four billion years. The SPA is of abiding interest to scientists and geologists because of the presence of frozen water, first detected by Chandrayaan–I, the country‘s maiden moon venture, eleven years ago, which could be as high as 600 million tonnes, enough to submerge the entire lunar surface to a depth of two feet, according to some estimates.
These ice deposits, probably existing in the basin’s eternally shadowed shallow craters, according to a Nature Geoscience report, may have resulted from the impact of meteors and asteroids, preserved for eons by being virtually cut off from sunlight, which would have precipitated chemical reactions, modifying their characteristics.
The startling discovery by India has rekindled global interest in Earth’s closest companion, practically given up as an object of exploration. It places matters in an entirely different perspective, opening up unlimited possibilities, since water is intimately bound with life. And, as the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) believes, water forms a vital link between the earth and the moon, going back to a primordial source, which is what this mission seeks to probe, among many other significant tasks. These water molecules could be explored by the ISRO as the key to powering rockets with hydrogen and oxygen as fuels for future space probes, with the Moon serving as a base for raw materials not available on earth.
ISRO will build on the findings of Chandrayaan-I, such as mapping the extent and distribution of primeval water, testing new technologies, analyzing soil samples, conducting study of topography, minerals and chemical composition, etc. It would pave the way for the proposed manned mission due in 2022, reinforcing ISRO’s credibility and reputation as a formidable global brand, holding its own in a fiercely competitive domain. The agency has been pertinently dubbed as “world's envy, India's pride," by K Kasturirangan, its former chairman.
Chandrayaan-II, comprising an orbiter, lander (Vikram), named in honour of Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space program, and a rover (Pragyan), will execute 14 or 15 delicate manoeuvres for a soft landing on the moon’s South Pole during the 48-day mission. Soft-landing is a technique that prevents serious damage to the spacecraft, mastered so far by Russia, US and China but attempted only on the Moon’s near side. The nature of the terrain and multitude of hurdles on the far side is what makes the mission even more unique and challenging.
However, China has stolen a march over the others by soft-landing on the far side earlier, in January this year, with Chang’e-4 robotic mission, which India will be attempting to do in the following days, joining the exclusive club as the fourth member. The soft-landing of Vikram would involve an extremely complex process, described by ISRO chief K Sivan as “15 minutes of terror.” Of the 14 payloads carried by Chandrayaan-2, three are
ISRO will build on the findings of Chandrayaan-I, such as mapping the extent and distribution of primeval water, testing new technologies, analyzing soil samples, conducting study of topography, minerals and chemical composition, etc. It would pave the way for the proposed manned mission due in 2022, reinforcing ISRO’s credibility and reputation as a formidable global brand, holding its own in a fiercely competitive domain
accounted by Europe, two by the US and one by Bulgaria.
A mission of this magnitude and reach has many dimensions, scientific, technological, political, military and commercial. Moon is one of the up and coming frontiers of space whose abundant resources are being increasingly eyed by powerful countries, for strategic and commercial reasons. India as a potential superpower cannot afford to be left behind in the race, which is only becoming more and more pronounced with the passage of time. Even otherwise, more than a 100 start-ups capitalizing on various aspects of the fledgling space industry have sprouted in the US, Europe and India. For instance, Jeff Bezos of Amazon reportedly pumps in USD1 billion annually into Blue Origin, his aerospace firm which plans to place men on the Moon by 2024.
“The Moon is the ultimate high ground for military applications. With its rotation locked in relation to earth, it provides an ideal platform for directed energy weapons against targets on earth. For example, lasers do not lose their potency over distance,” points out Wing Commander Rajesh Khosla (retd), a veteran combat pilot and domain expert on space and strategic matters.
“The Chinese and Americans are already planning a colony on the moon which will eventually also have military applications. Just as we were obliged to establish a station in Antarctica to become signatories to the Antarctica treaty, we need to be on the moon to have a say in its future. We need to accelerate our space program,” he adds.
Elaborating on the mission’s scientific relevance, the air warrior adds: “For instance, the Chinese rover discovered a new type of basalt rock not found on earth. The moon, minus atmosphere or weather, preserves everything for millions of years. It is in effect a time capsule of the entire solar system right from the formation of the sun. Every crater on the moon would probably have its own history to tell. Studies on the moon (not just the rovers) would be a giant leap in understanding cosmology and phenomenon like supernovas, black holes etc. The physics of low gravity and associated chemical reactions can only be studied on the moon.” The ensuing discoveries could accelerate the development of artificial Intelligence over the next few years and help design robots capable of operating independently.
Politically, Moon is fast becoming the most coveted object in space also because of the presence of large quantities of Helium 3, around a million tonnes, enough to fulfill all of Earth’s energy requirements for several centuries. It could be mined by robots operating with even existing technology. The atom has been described as “a critical fuel for future nuclear fusion reactor, the Holy Grail of energy technology.” Most of the space faring nations want a slice of the lunar pie and are working towards that end.
Khosla adds: “The moon would be the cradle for interstellar travel eventually. With a low gravity it is much cheaper to launch a mission to Mars (from the Moon) than from Earth. The moon could be the staging post/ launching pad for every interplanetary space mission. The low escape velocity of the moon means that really huge space ships can be built on the moon.”