India Launching Unmanned Moon Probe

India is normally not considered when one speaks of space exploration. However, the country had its first cosmonaut in 1984, lost Kalpana Chawla in the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 and has put up more than a few satellites. Last week, the Indian cabinet approved $91 million for an unmanned lunar probe. Launch of Chandrayaan-1 is scheduled for today.

The Times of India reported, “Of its total weight, the 11 scientific payloads it'll carry will weigh 80kg. Initially, when the design of the spacecraft was conceived, the weight of the payloads was kept at 35kg. One of the reasons why it shot up was the inclusion of the 29kg Moon Impact Probe, an Indian payload which was initiated at the instance of former President A P J Abdul Kalam. The probe will crashland on the lunar surface to identify future landing sites and explore the moon from a close range.”

Britain’s Financial Times said, “Chandrayaan will drop a probe carrying the Indian tricolour flag on to the moon . . . . The flag drop completed, Chandrayaan will spend the next two years mapping the moon, searching for signs of water and rich mineral deposits, including Helium-3. Among its instruments are those from the US, Sweden, Germany, Japan and Bulgaria.”

The Indian space program has its detractors. Many say that Chandrayaan-1 is well over-budget and that the politicians backing it are hiding the cost over-runs from the voters. A more fundamental objection is to spending on space while many earth-bound Indians are still stuck in soul-crushing poverty. Still others say that the whole thing is a publicity stunt for the government.

Unlike the Chinese, though, the Indian space program has no plans to put a human being on the moon, or in space at all. The next mission on the drawing board is Chandrayaan 2, a mission with Russian co-operation, to land a rover on the moon in 2011-12. This journal applauds the Indian effort and the commonsense upon which it is based. Robots can learn more and do more in exploring space for mankind than mankind can do directly.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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