India successfully launched its first lunar mission yesterday, marking a major boost for the country’s space program and a new step in the fast-developing Asian space race.
Cheers rang out at mission control as the unmanned lunar orbiting spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 was launched with an Indian-built rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota on the southeastern coast.
Officials said the lift-off, which took place in cloudy skies at 6:22am was a “great success,” with the rocket placing the craft into a transfer orbit around the globe within 19 minutes.
PHOTO: AP
“Our scientific community has once again done the country proud and the entire nation salutes them,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a message from Japan, where he was on an official visit.
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) head Madhavan Nair said it was a “historic moment” for the country.
“It has been a remarkable performance by the launch vehicle,” he said of the lift-off from the national space centre in the state of Andhra Pradesh, 80km north of Chennai.
The space organization is sending the Chandrayaan-1 on a two-year orbital mission to provide a detailed map of the mineral, chemical and topographical characteristics of the moon’s surface. It is expected to reach lunar orbit in 15 days.
The mission, which will also include the sending of a probe onto the lunar surface, will cost India US$80 million.
“Today what we have charted is a remarkable journey for an Indian spacecraft to go to the moon and try to unravel the mysteries of the Earth’s closest celestial body and its only natural satellite,” Nair said.
India is hoping the mission will boost its space program into the same league as regional powerhouses Japan and China.
Nair said ISRO was aiming at a manned space flight by 2015, with work on a two-person capsule already under way.
As well as looking to carve out a larger slice of the lucrative commercial satellite launch market, India, Japan and China also see their space programs as an important symbol of their international stature and economic development.
The launch was carried live on most Indian TV channels — with one channel using the theme from Star Wars to accompany the countdown.
Some critics, however, have questioned whether it makes sense to spend so much money on space when hundreds of millions of Indians still live in dire poverty.
India started its space program in 1963, developing its own satellites and launch vehicles to reduce dependence on overseas agencies.
But it still has a long way to go to catch up with China which, together with the US, Russia and the European Space Agency, is already well established in the commercial launch sector.
Chinese officials have spoken of a manned mission to the moon in the future, after following the US and Russia last month by carrying out a space walk and wants to establish an orbiting space lab.
Japan has also been boosting its space program and has set a goal of sending an astronaut to the moon by 2020.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS