India is to attempt a second moon landing — after an attempt last year failed just minutes before a scheduled touchdown on the lunar surface — in a bid to restore its credentials as an ambitious space power.
The nation’s Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon, likely this year, is to consist of a lander and a rover, and is to use inputs from an orbiter from the previous mission, Indian Space Research Organization chairman K. Sivan said in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
The nation has also made progress on its first manned space mission by identifying four astronauts, Sivan added.
India and China are both trying to establish a presence in space exploration. While China was the first nation to land a rover on the far side of the moon, India had aimed to become the first to the southern pole, the same spot NASA is targeting in 2024 with its Artemis mission.
The US$1.4 billion Gaganyaan mission — which plans to launch a module with astronauts by 2022, taking them on a seven-day voyage around the Earth — would make India only the fourth nation to send humans into space.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sharpened the nation’s focus on space since coming to power in 2014, with a pipeline of ambitious programs, including planned missions to study the sun and Venus, before eventually establishing a space station.
Apart from space-faring nations, billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson are competing in an unofficial space race, from launching satellites to sending astronauts and tourists into space.
The previous mission, which intended to analyze virgin territory, placed an orbiter around the moon before the lander lost contact with scientists.
NASA, with the help of Indian mechanical engineer Shanmuga Subramanian, located the crashed spacecraft last month.
“Even though we couldn’t successfully soft land, the orbiter is still functioning and it is going to function for another seven years,” Sivan said. “Chandrayaan-3’s configuration will be almost similar to Chandrayaan-2.”
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
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