China has made its interests very clear by successfully
launching a new lunar probe Chang’e 3 carrying the robotic rover onto the
surface of the moon. This was first attempt of China at soft-landing spacecraft
on to an extra-terrestrial body. A Long March 3B rocket carrying the lunar
space craft has blasted off from
South-west China’s XiChang Satellite Launch Centre on Dec 2nd,
landed on moon’s 400km wide ancient crater, thought to be relatively flat and
devoid of rocks, Sinus Iridum or the Bay of Rainbows, on Dec 14th. The space
craft arrived in the lunar orbit after five days of launch and from then it has
been preparing for landing. The descent from the lunar orbit to the moon’s
surface took 12 minutes. A six-wheeled, solar powered, Yutu or the Jade Rabbit,
with four cameras and two mechanical legs can dig soil samples upto a depth of
30 mts, has unleashed on the lunar surface from the Lander. Jade Rabbit is
named after a mythological creature, white rabbit that travels with the goddess
Chang’e to the moon. The rover weighs 140 kg and carries an optical telescope
for astronomical observations and a powerful ultraviolet camera that will
monitor how solar activity effects the three layers of the earth’s atmosphere.
It is fitted with radioisotope heaters unit that will allow it to function even
as temperatures plummet to -180C. The stationary Lunar Lander is fully equipped
to observe earth, and astronomically constructed to eye other celestial bodies
and the rover Yutu as well. The
objective of the mission is to explore the natural resources and conduct
geological surveys for a year. China has successfully recorded a soft-landing
meaning a landing in which the spacecraft and equipment remain intact. With
this it has joined the elite club of US and Russia the earlier two nations who
could accomplish this feat.
Chang’e 3 is the first spacecraft visiting the moon after
Soviet Union’s unmanned space mission in 1976. Another interesting historical
coincidence is that on the same day in 1972 Apollo-17’s Gene Cernan took last
steps off the moon’s surface to climb aboard Challenger Lunar Module. The most
sophisticated feature of the Chang’e 3 is the presence of the ground radar to
measure lunar soil and crust. With this launch, China is seriously making
preparations for its next lunar mission aimed at collecting the lunar samples
and sending it back to earth for investigation by 2020 followed by a manned
lunar mission. China’s plans to lunar surface as “spring board” for its future
deep space exploration missions. Chang’e 4 is supposed to be an improved
version of the Chang’e 3 which would eventually pave way for their fifth
mission Chang’e 5 aimed at collecting the lunar samples.
China has ambitious space mission aiming at developing its space
research stations on par with the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goddard
Space Flight Centre. Currently China is working indigenously as US congress has
banned NASA from using Federal funds to cooperate with China two years back.
China has several accomplishments in space research to its credit. It has
become third nation to send a manned spacecraft a decade ago. Now efforts are
on way for a manned mission to Mars and a series of lunar exploration projects.
This shows China’s technological and scientific prowess and the ability to pool
all its financial resources and manpower.
China has been very keen about Lunar explorations for three
important reasons as elucidated by a adviser of the mission. Firstly- to
develop technology needed for exploration this includes materials,
communication skills, IT skills etc. Second, from scientific point of view it
is important to know about the brothers and sisters of earth to have a greater
understanding about the earth, its origin and other features. Third-in terms of
talent to develop its own intellectual pool to work on all space related
projects. Apart from the above stated reasons China has set aside a vision for
Lunar Programs. Since moon has no air, solar panels would work efficiently
which can be used to support whole world. Moon is rich source of Helium-3 an
important fuel for nuclear reactors; hence it can solve the energy crisis of
nation for the next 10,000 years. The combination of thin atmosphere and
extreme temperatures can be better used for manufacturing. Moon is full of rare
earth metals like Titanium and Uranium which of short supply on earth. Though
the mining option does seem to be remotely plausible, Chinese are confident
about their future prospective use. China has several schemes of activities for
its lunar explorations. Since there is no crunch for funds space research,
China which has been a laggard initially seems to be catching up with the elite
nations.
This launch has opened up a scope for robotic exploration of
moon. This will join the NASA’s LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment
Explorer) launched in September. Besides this, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter and Accleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of Moon’s
interaction with Sun (ARTEMIS), probes have been working on their mission
objectives on the Lunar Surface. Though there is no agreement between US and
China regarding sharing of scientific information, data will be shared to the
International Science community. China’s moon landing has been supported by the
European Space Agency (ESA)’s deep space tracking system. Chang’e 3 lunar
descent has been tracked by a telescope from New Norcia in Western Australia.
Radio signals received during the descent can used to reconstruct the
trajectory for future references.
While India registered an initial success in the lunar
explorations through its unmanned lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, its subsequent
mission Chandrayaan-2 has to be inadvertently delayed as the Roskosmos of
Russia failed to extend the needed support. After Russia failed in its
Phobos-Grant mission, a mission to one of the moon’s of the Mars, it had to
work on sturdy launch vehicle and India was asked to wait till 2017. The India
backed out of its agreement with Russia and decided to develop the technology
indigenously. As a part of this exercise indigenous Geosynchronous Launch vehicle
(GSLV) D5, the supposed launch vehicle has been fabricated. But the launch had
to been aborted at the eleventh hour due to fuel leakage in August 2013 and the
new launch is scheduled for early Jan 2014. A successful launch of GSLV would
ensure a steady progress towards Chandrayaan-2. Hope ISRO inspired by its
spirited feat of Mangalyaan, would continue to repeat its miracle. Though media
minced no words in pitching India against China for an ongoing space
competition in the South Asia, India has miles to travel to catch up with China
which is way ahead.....
Yutu or the Jade Rabbit, lunar rover with its Lander
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