BENGALURU/WASHINGTON: The space race India aims to win this week by landing first on the moon's south pole is about science, the politics of national prestige and a new frontier: money.
India's Chandrayaan-3 is heading for a landing on the lunar south pole on Wednesday. If it succeeds, analysts and executives expect an immediate boost for the South Asian nation's nascent space industry.
Russia's Luna-25, which launched less than two weeks ago, had been on track to get there first – before the lander crashed from orbit, possibly taking with it the funding for a successor mission, analysts say.
The seemingly sudden competition to get to a previously unexplored region of the moon recalls the space race of the 1960s, when the United States and the Soviet Union competed.
But now space is a business, and the moon's south pole is a prize because of the water ice there that planners expect could support a future lunar colony, mining operations and eventual missions to Mars.
With a push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has privatised space launches and is looking to open the sector to foreign investment as it targets a five-fold increase in its share of the global launch market within the next decade.
If Chandrayaan-3 succeeds, analysts expect India's space sector to capitalise on a reputation for cost-competitive engineering. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had a budget of around just $74 million for the mission.
NASA, by comparison, is on track to spend roughly $93 billion on its Artemis moon programme through 2025, the U.S. space agency's inspector general has estimated.
"The moment this mission is successful, it raises the profile of everyone associated with it," said Ajey Lele, a consultant at New Delhi's Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
"When the world looks at a mission like this, they aren't looking at ISRO in isolation."
RUSSIA'S CRUNCH
Despite Western sanctions over its war in Ukraine and increasing isolation, Russia managed to launch a moonshot. But some experts doubt its ability to fund a successor to Luna-25. Russia has not disclosed what it spent on the mission.
"Expenses for space exploration are systematically reduced from year to year," said Vadim Lukashevich, an independent space expert and author based in Moscow.
Russia's budget prioritisation of the war in Ukraine makes a repeat of Luna-25 "extremely unlikely", he added.
Russia had been considering a role in NASA’s Artemis programme until 2021, when it said it would partner instead on China's moon programme. Few details of that effort have been disclosed.
China made the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon in 2019 and has more missions planned. Space research firm Euroconsult estimates China spent $12 billion on its space programme in 2022.
NASA'S PLAYBOOK
But by opening to private money, NASA has provided the playbook India is following, officials there have said.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, for example, is developing the Starship rocket for its satellite launch business as well as to ferry NASA astronauts to the moon’s surface under a $3-billion contract.
Beyond that contract, SpaceX will spend roughly $2 billion on Starship this year, Musk has said.
U.S. space firms Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines LUNR.O are building lunar landers that are expected to launch to the moon's south pole by year's end, or in 2024.
And companies such as Axiom Space and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are developing privately funded successors to the International Space Station. On Monday, Axiom said it raised $350 million from Saudi and South Korean investors.
Space remains risky. India’s last attempt to land failed in 2019, the same year an Israeli startup failed at what would have been the first privately funded moon landing. Japanese startup ispace 9348.T had a failed landing attempt this year.
"Landing on the moon is hard, as we’re seeing,” said Bethany Ehlmann, a professor at California Institute of Technology, who is working with NASA on a 2024 mission to map the lunar south pole and its water ice.
"For the past few years, the moon seems to be eating spacecraft."
Reuters
Wed Aug 23 2023
A view of the moon as viewed by the Chandrayaan-3 lander during Lunar Orbit Insertion on August 5, 2023 in this screengrab from a video released August 6, 2023. - ISRO/via REUTERS
Protes di universiti AS tidak tunjuk tanda perlahan
Dalam dua minggu lalu, protes pro-Palestin telah merebak ke kampus kolej utama di seluruh AS.
37 juta tan serpihan runtuhan di Gaza - UNMAS
Terdapat juga sejumlah besar senjata api yang tidak meletup tertimbus di dalam runtuhan yang menimbulkan risiko kepada kerja pembersihan.
Legenda EPL puji padang SNBJ
Pemain Manchester Reds dan Liverpool Reds memuji keadaan rumput yang cantik dan bersedia untuk kembali beraksi pada masa akan datang.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: Dunia saling tidak percaya akibat kebergantungan dipersenjatakan - Naib Presiden Suruhanjaya Eropah
Fenomena hilang kepercayaan yang melanda komuniti antarabangsa ketika ini adalah akibat kebergantungan yang dipersenjatakan oleh beberapa pihak.
Che'gu Bard tiba di mahkamah bagi hadapi pertuduhan kes fitnah, hasut
Badrul Hisham, yang memakai baju Melayu berwarna hijau, dibawa oleh pihak polis ke mahkamah dalam keadaan bergari.
WCK sambung misi bantuan di Gaza
Operasi itu disambung sebulan selepas tujuh pekerja badan amal itu terbunuh dalam serangan udara Israel.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: Dunia perlukan persaingan sihat dalam transisi ke Orde Baharu - Menteri Luar Arab Saudi
Dunia memerlukan persaingan sihat dalam transisi daripada Orde Dunia Lama kepada Orde Baharu.
Niaga AWANI: Jiwa SME: Permintaan daun moringa meningkat, jadi tumpuan luar negara
Berdasarkan laporan Vodus Market Research, sebuah firma penyelidikan dan analisis data pasaran dalam talian, kira-kira 71 peratus penduduk di negara ini mengambil suplemen pada 2021.
Nilai pasaran suplemen negara juga menunjukkan peningkatan ketara dalam tempoh 2014 hingga 2019, iaitu daripada RM2.07 bilion kepada RM3.1 bilion. Angka itu dijangka terus meningkat pada masa akan datang.
Nilai pasaran suplemen negara juga menunjukkan peningkatan ketara dalam tempoh 2014 hingga 2019, iaitu daripada RM2.07 bilion kepada RM3.1 bilion. Angka itu dijangka terus meningkat pada masa akan datang.
Niaga AWANI: FBM KLCI mencapai paras tertinggi walaupun ditengah cabaran Ringgit
Indeks FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI meningkat sebanyak 8.28% walaupun nilai matawang menurun sebanyak 3.79% berbanding dollar Amerika Syarikat (AS). Adakah trend ini akan berterusan sehingga bulan Mei akan datang? Kupasan lanjut bersama Ketua Penyelidikan dan Penasihat Kekayaan, Pengurus Portfolio, UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors, Mohd Sedek Jantan.
Niaga AWANI: Ringgit dijangka sekitar 4.77 berbanding dolar AS minggu ini
Pengarah Urusan SPI Asset Management Stephen Innes berkata ini bagaimanapun bergantung kepada reaksi pasaran bon global memandangkan ramai peniaga memberi tumpuan terhadap pelarasan oleh Rizab Persekutuan AS (Fed).
'Saya pernah jumpa Neil Armstrong' - Angkasawan Negara jawab mitos ekspedisi ke bulan
Berkongsi lebih lanjut, anak kelahiran Kuala Lumpur itu mengakui pernah bertentang mata dengan Amstrong.
Kapal angkasa China mendarat di bahagian gelap Bulan
Kapal angkasa tersebut turutn membawa 3 kilogram kentang dan benih tumbuhan, dan telur ulat sutera untuk tujuan eksperimen.