Moon mission may herald lunar land grab
RANDEEP RAMESH
It will be a small step for mankind, but a giant leap forward for India. If all goes to plan, the satellite, weighing half a tonne, will enter a lunar orbit some 100 km above the moon’s surface on November 8.
Harvesting helium 3
One of India’s aims in reaching the moon is the possibility of harvesting helium 3, a key fuel for nuclear fusion. Although fusion is not commercially viable today, scientists say it one day will be, and that once it is a fuel, supply will become a problem, as the earth is believed to have only 15 tonnes of helium 3. The moon is thought to contain up to 5 million tonnes.
Officials at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) remain tight-lipped about the possibility of a lunar land grab. U.R. Rao, a former director of ISRO, was less taciturn, pointing out that the moon might have “enough [helium 3] to produce energy for 8,000 years.”
This view echoes that of the head of China’s Chang’e project, who told the China Daily in 2006 that “each year three space shuttle missions could bring enough [helium 3] for all human beings across the world.”
Last month, a Chinese astronaut completed a 15-minute space walk for the first time. However, India has big ambitions. There are proposals to put the first Indian into space by 2014 and to launch a manned lunar mission by 2020 — four years ahead of China’s target date.
The Indian agency’s next step is to launch a second unmanned lunar mission in 2011, comprising an orbiting spacecraft, a lander and a moon-rover built with Russian help.
Earlier this year India was ranked by analysts at Futron, a hi-tech consultancy, as only a fraction behind China in global space competitiveness rankings, and well ahead of Japan, Israel and Canada. China’s Chang’e I cost nearly double of India’s Chandrayaan I bill of $86m.
