India is aiming to reach a place on the moon, where no nation has ever managed to set foot before – the south side of Earth’s only natural satellite. India is planning to get there and examine the possibilities of mining a waste-free nuclear fuel, called helium-3, which could be worth trillions of dollars.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently preparing to launch a rover in October this year. Once the rover lands on the virgin territory of moon’s surface, it will study and analyze the crust in order to find out the signs of water and helium-3. According to experts, the isotope’s quantity is limited on our home planet, however, it’s so much abundant on the moon that theoretically, it will be enough to sustain Earth’s global energy demands for the next 250 years, if we can harness it.
This mission, Chandrayaan-2 would solidify India’s place in the space race. Several countries alongside India, such as China, Japan, the United States and Russia, are also planning lunar missions in the near future.
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China, which had last landed on the moon in 2013, is also planning to launch another moon mission by the end of this year. The U.S. President Donald Trump has also signed a directive calling for the astronauts to once again go back to Earth’s natural satellite.
NASA’s this financial year’s proposed $19 billion budget has also made it important to launch a lunar orbiter by the 2020s. ISRO’s average budget, on the other hand, is far less compared to what NASA has proposed. It’s around $1.7 billion, and the agency is confident about its upcoming mission.
This is not the first time India is eying the moon. The Chandrayaan-1 mission had kicked off in 2008 and the spacecraft had completed over 3,400 orbits around the moon. It had also ejected a probe, which was able to find the molecules of water in the lunar surface for the first time.
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