lunar South Pole Archives - Read Selective

Untouched by sunlight for billions of years, the craters at the moon’s south pole offer an undisturbed record of the solar system’s origins.

With deep craters, termed ‘cold traps’, the moon’s south pole is expected to host a vast reservoir of water ice in permanently shadowed regions. (Image: @isro/Twitter)

The lunar south pole, with its deep craters engulfed in unending darkness, has enticed various nations to try and plant their flags there. According to NASA, the region is full of “mystery, science and intrigue”.

With the primary aim of putting a lander and a rover on the moon’s highlands near its south pole, Chandrayaan-3 has made India the first country to softly land a spacecraft in this particular region. India is now the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union and China.

Last week, Luna-25, Russia’s first moon-landing spacecraft in nearly half a century, crashed into the moon after reportedly spinning out of control. Meanwhile, the US is said to be planning a crewed mission to land humans at the site in 2025. China is also planning a mission to the area before the end of the decade.

With deep craters, termed ‘cold traps’, the moon’s south pole is expected to host a vast reservoir of water ice in permanently shadowed regions.

According to a report by NBC News, NASA administrator Bill Nelson has said that the area is far more treacherous than the site of the first moon landing in 1969. NASA is also said to be preparing for a return to the moon’s surface with the Artemis II mission next year.

“Most lunar missions target the Moon’s south pole as the landing site because the lunar poles harbour an environment that represents the remarkable diversity on Earth, and are strikingly distinct from the familiar middle latitudes,” Manish Purohit, a former ISRO scientist involved in the Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan-2 missions, told ABP Live.

However, it is no easy feat for a nation. A BBC report stated that transporting equipment from Earth to the Moon involves overcoming the Earth’s gravitational pull. “The larger the equipment, the more rocket and fuel load would be needed for a successful landing. The new commercial space companies charge around $1m to take a kilogram of payload to the moon,” it said.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/lunar-south-pole-why-nations-are-vying-to-plant-their-flags-on-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-11245351.html

Two spacecraft – one built by India and the other by Russia – are hurtling on missions towards our Moon by very different routes. But does it matter which touches down first?

Right now, a mini space race is afoot. Two spacecraft, one Russian and the other Indian, are headed for the South Pole of the Moon – where no lander has ever successfully gone before. The Russian and Indian vehicles are on competing quests to search for water ice and potentially useful minerals that might be tucked away in the lunar dust.

Such was the timing of the crafts’ departures that they are due to reach their destinations around the same date. No one planned this showdown, it is simply a curious twist of fate – but one that has got the world watching, and wondering: who will get there first?

For decades, our reading of things that happen in space has been unavoidably shaped by the original space race of the 1960s, in which the United States and the Soviet Union vied to put a human being on the Moon. Despite the Soviet Union becoming the first nation to put a satellite in Earth orbit, launch a human into space, and land an uncrewed spacecraft on the Moon, the US grabbed the biggest prize of all when the Apollo 11 mission carried astronauts to the lunar surface. Their adventure was broadcast on TV screens around the world and it was followed by further crewed Apollo missions in subsequent years, with the last taking place in 1972. More than 50 years later, the US remains the only country to have achieved a crewed Moon landing.

The Indian lander, Chandrayaan-3, blasted off from Earth on 14 July, packed with a payload of scientific equipment as well as a small, six-wheeled rover for exploration of the lunar surface. It’s due to touch down on the lunar surface on 23 August after first sling-shotting around the Earth a few times and spending several weeks orbiting the Moon in preparation for the landing. The Russian lander, meanwhile, Luna-25, departed our planet only recently, taking off just after 2am Moscow time on 11 August (11pm GMT 10 August). It is taking a much faster, more direct route to the Moon and could reach the surface in as little as 10 days post-launch, on 21 August. Officials at the Russian space agency Roscosmos have made no secret about their desire to be first to make a soft landing at the Moon’s South Pole.

But Luna-25’s journey might take slightly longer than that, meaning Chandrayaan-3 could arrive on the Moon first, in the end. Slow and steady could win this race.

The missions, however, reflect the renewed interest in the Moon for space exploration. The recent discovery of significant pockets of water ice on our nearest celestial neighbour has excited scientists because hydrogen in the water could potentially be extracted to make rocket fuel at a future Moon base. Plus, the water might even be drinkable after treatment.

The so-called race between Luna-25 and Chandrayaan-3 encapsulates a new era of lunar exploration, in which nations including the US, Israel, and China, as well as private companies, are targeting the Moon with spacecraft and forthcoming crewed missions. For many, it’s just friendly competition. And yet, a fresh chapter of human exploration is at stake. The small steps taken by individual landers and crewed missions could add up to giant leaps in conquering the Solar System in the coming decades and centuries. Who gets there first really could matter.

“It’s turned out to be more of a coincidence than anything,” says Wendy Whitman Cobb, professor of strategy and security studies at the US Air and Space Force’s Air University, referring to the timing of the Luna-25 and Chandrayaan-3 missions. “But it is a very interesting coincidence.” Luna-25’s launch has been repeatedly delayed – it was originally scheduled for 2021.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230811-mission-to-the-moon-who-will-win-russian-and-indias-race-to-the-lunar-south-pole

Tag: lunar South Pole

Lunar south pole: Why nations are vying to plant their flags on the dark side of the moon

Mission to the Moon: Who will win Russian and India’s race to the lunar South Pole?