Space Quote: The Changing Competition in Space and Elsewhere

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Image (Credit): 3D view of a crater on the Moon generated from images captured by Chandrayaan 2 orbiter’s Terrain Mapping Camera in 2019. (ISRO)

“…a comparison with India is illuminating: India’s economy was about half the size of Russia’s when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Today, India’s economy is 50 percent bigger than Russia’s. Forget about keeping pace with the United States: Russia can’t keep up with India.”

-Editorial in The Washington Post by David Von Drehle titled “India’s Brilliant Moon Landing Illuminates Russia’s Drastic Decline.” India’s steady progress on space missions, including Chandrayaan 2 back in 2019 (shown above), has occurred during Russia’s slow decline and current situation. This cannot be lost on Russia as its cosmonaut traveled to the International Space Station this weekend aboard an American rocket. Around the world, space programs are moving on without Russia, which was the leading nation at the start of the Space Age.

Pic of the Week: Another View of the Far Side of the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Lunar surface as captured by India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft. (ISRO)

This week’s image is an shot of the far side of the Moon captured by India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which landed on the Moon yesterday. This was part of a set of photos posted to Twitter by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The various images were used by the spacecraft as it attempted to find a safe landing spot, which it fortunately found.

“India Is on the Moon”

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The ISRO mission control room celebrating the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission on the Moon. (ISRO)

Now that is a clear message from S. Somanath, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the lunar surface at  8:34 am ET today.

India is now the fourth nation to land on the moon, not that other nations haven’t tried.

This victory is all the sweeter following Russia’s loss of the Luna-25 spacecraft. We needed some good news this week.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated:

Congratulations ISRO on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission!

NASA provided the mission with a passive laser retroreflector array for lunar ranging studies.

The mission rover (shown below) should be moving about south pole soon enough to start its experiments in the vicinity.

You can learn more about the mission and equipment at this ISRO site.

Credit: ISRO

We Await the Indian Moon Landing

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Images of the Moon from India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft after it entered lunar orbit more than two weeks ago. (Indian Space Research Organisation)

We are down to one spacecraft approaching the Moon’s south pole – India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, which is expected to land as early as tomorrow. This is India’s second try for a Moon landing after the loss of Chandrayaan-2, so fingers crossed. Chandrayaan-1 also sent a probe that impacted the Moon, but that was the plan.

We shall see if Indian patience beats Russian bravado.

India Prime Minister Modi put a possible spin on the past missions. Regarding Chandrayaan-1, he said:

Chandrayaan-1 is considered to be a path-breaker among global lunar missions as it confirmed the presence of water molecules on the moon. It featured in over 200 scientific publications around the world.

Even the failed second mission has its successes:

Chandrayaan-2 was equally pathbreaking because data from the Orbiter associated with it detected the presence of chromium, manganese and sodium for the first time through remote sensing. This will also provide more insights into the moon’s magmatic evolution. The key scientific outcomes from Chandrayaan 2 include the first ever global map for lunar sodium, enhancing knowledge on crater size distribution, unambiguous detection of lunar surface water ice with IIRS instrument and more. This Mission has featured in almost 50 publications.

I like the positive attitude.

Luna-25 Fails to Land (Properly) on the Moon

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Image (Credit): Our Moon in all its glory. (NASA/JPL/USGS)

The message from Roscosmos was pretty bland:

During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters.

Translated into normal speech, we learned that Luna-25 crashed during its attempted landing on the lunar surface.

This is a blow for Russia and Putin as well. The Soviet Union could threaten the world and run a terrific space program. The Russians are bogged down in Ukraine and unable to pick up a lunar program ceased about 50 years ago. It is sad to watch.

Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov blamed the crash on Russia’s long absence from the Moon, stating,

The negative experience of interrupting the lunar program for almost 50 years is the main reason for the failures.

He may want to add corruption, economic sanctions, and horrible leadership to that list of reasons.

At least the Russian mission was able to share a few photos from orbit before it all ended.

The Moon’s south pole is still available for anyone who wants it. The Indian space program will give it a try this week. We can only wish them well as they fly over the Russian rubble.