Moon Mission: Beginning of revolution in space

Veer Singh

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and other scientific organizations are constantly developing such lunar missions, which will provide us with more information about the possibilities of water, atmosphere and life on the surface of the Moon. These missions will give us knowledge about the possibilities of permanent habitation for human life and the development of tools to go beyond lunar interaction and exploration.

In the history of world space travel, no space program has generated more universal curiosity since the first man set foot on the surface of the Moon and India’s conquest of Mars than the July 14 launch of Chandrayaan-3 into space. After the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3, the eyes of the whole world are focused on India.

There would be hardly any such information medium in the world, which has not given news about this incident. Moreover, China’s state newspaper ‘Global Times’ has also congratulated India on this success and appreciated this step. There is also news that America, Australia and Spain have also started keeping an eye on Chandrayaan-3.

Moon has always been a mysterious celestial body for human life. Earth is a living planet and Moon is its lifeless planet. This mystery sometimes knocks. Mother Earth’s brother Moon – we Indians have considered him ‘Chanda Mama’ for millennia. Such an emotional relation towards the moon has hardly been of anyone other than the Indian civilization.

After Apollo-11, many countries of the world had started their space missions for space travel. India is also a distinguished member of the space club. In 1969, with the Apollo-11 mission in space, NASA made the longest leap in the space program by landing humans on the lunar surface. Half a century passed, when the dust of the moon fell on the feet of man. Meanwhile, space programs have opened up many of the mysteries of the universe. Water was first discovered on the moon by India’s Chandrayaan-1.

Then after Chandrayaan-2 (which was not as successful as expected), the Moon again became the attraction of space programmes. In the curious discussions of Chandrayaan-3, first NASA of America and two days before its launch, China’s National Space Administration announced to send man to the moon.

So far only a few countries have landed their vehicles on the Moon through ‘Moon Mission’. The first of these countries was the Soviet Union (today’s Russia), which launched its first Luna mission in 1959. The Soviet Union’s Luna-2 was the first to land on the lunar surface. After this, many missions of the Soviet Union landing on the surface of the moon were successful.

The United States launched its Apollo mission in 1961. Through this mission, American astronauts traveled around the Moon and in 1969 Neil Armstrong took one small step on the surface of the Moon as part of the Apollo-11 mission, a giant leap for mankind.

India launched the Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008, which aimed to map the lunar surface. After that, an attempt was made to land the lander Vikram on the lunar surface in 2019 through Chandrayaan-2, but it failed before reaching the surface. China launched Chang’e-1 in 2007. It mapped the surface of the Moon and brought samples from there to Earth. Israel launched its first Moon mission ‘Bereshit’ in 2019, but failed to land on the Moon.

India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission was important to humans because it indicated for the first time the presence of water on the Moon. Earlier, NASA’s Apollo and Soviet Union’s Luna mission had not given any indication of the presence of water on the Moon. The presence of water on the Moon is actually India’s discovery, which it discovered in its first attempt itself.

The Chandrayaan-2 mission, which was launched by India in 2019, was to attempt to touch the South Pole of the Moon. It consisted of a spacecraft, alviator (lander) and rover (walking robotic passenger vehicle). Although Chandrayaan-2 did not successfully land on the surface of the Moon, it was successful in touching some other regions of the Moon. The mission was significant in uncovering new data and scientific information that has given us some knowledge about the Moon’s atmosphere and historical development.

India’s current Chandrayaan-3 mission is also for the study of the atmosphere and its main objective is to touch the south polar region of the Moon and analyze the samples brought from there and it will be the world’s first space travel attempt to do so. If Chandrayaan-3’s ‘soft landing’ on the South Pole of the Moon is successfully completed on August 23, which is very likely, then India will be the architect of a new revolution in the field of space. If data can be found on its success and according to the expectations of life development, then it can also be expected that in the long future, India will open new doors of construction for the people of the earth to settle in the lap of ‘Chanda Mama’.

Along with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India’s space scientists are also developing a separate mission, the proposed BIYARI (Biographical Exploration Laboratory Instrumentation), in collaboration with ‘Inquisitiveness’, which will explore the possibility of life on the Moon. Through this mission, scientists will get access to a detailed and high-quality object collection to study the lunar atmosphere.

Although no authentic life signals have been detected by Chandrayaan missions so far, these missions are important steps for mankind. The Chandrayaan mission is facing several challenges, such as the capacity of the atmospheric engine, the unbearable temperature of the Moon, the challenges of flying due to the absence of gravity, etc. Such missions allow us to discover new technologies and obtain information on the composition and atmosphere on and below the surface of the Moon.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and other scientific organizations are constantly developing such lunar missions, which will provide us with more information about the possibilities of water, atmosphere, and life on the lunar surface. These missions will give us knowledge about the possibilities of permanent habitation for human life and the development of tools to go beyond lunar interaction and exploration. Moon exploration is becoming India’s focus and through this we will look forward to new dimensions of space exploration.

It is an eternal truth that the knowledge that India gave to humanity by making the universe an open book in the flourishing period of its civilization has no match! The knowledge and science of the entire universe is a priceless heritage of the Indian eternal civilization. Deeper exploration of the Moon and other aspects of space would be a cultural renaissance for India. Now we should make space not only our aim but also our subject. Who knows, one day it may be possible that our ‘Chanda Mama’ may gift a new world to the world!