NEW DELHI: India will soon take the first exploratory steps towards realising its plan to put an Indian on moon. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Madhavan Nair told TOI that by 2008-end, India plans to start feasibility studies on a manned moon mission in what is sure to put a seemingly ambitious project on a concrete footing.
There is no timeline yet because the project is deemed very expensive.
“A manned mission will cost thousands of crores, so we have to consider various options,” he said.
By 2010-2011, Chadrayaan 2 project — which was signed on Monday in Moscow between India and Russia — will be a joint plan which will include a lander and a rover to “walk” around the moon’s surface and collect samples and data for analysis. Considering that no country save the US has been able to put its man on the moon, India’s mission was naturally viewed with scepticism.
ISRO’s plans for feasibility studies and the follow-up measures may quell the doubts, establishing the seriousness of its intent.
Meanwhile, India’s first lunar orbiting mission, Chandrayaan 1, expected to take off in 2008, is generating a lot of excitement particularly since it will follow the Chinese mission Chang’e 1 and Japan’s orbiter mission, Kaguya, launched last month. In the next one year, three of Asia’s major countries will be taking definitive steps towards deep space.
ISRO is particularly pleased about the Chandrayaan 1 mission. It will carry almost double the number of payloads the Chinese Chang’e 1 did, making it a much more sophisticated venture. The mission will be carrying five payloads from ISRO, three from European Space Agency, one from Bulgaria Academy of Sciences and two from NASA.
Ultimately, the new moon race — NASA, China and Japan have announced plans to send a manned mission to Moon by or before 2020 — is the precursor to a more serious competition on space exploration between Asia’s powers.
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