2023-08-17 12:00:00
SPACE – The United States, Russia or the European Union are not the only powers exploring space: new countries have joined the list of moon landing programs planned for 2023. And some are already on the verge of to come true.
In 2023, the world is witnessing a new highly contested space race in which several states at the forefront of the international scene are participating. This is the second time in history that different countries have competed to reach the Moon, following the historic rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in the late 1950s.
This is for new countries to join the list of powers capable of reaching the Moon and to show who has the most advanced technologies in order to explore, or even exploit, the resources of the Earth’s natural satellite. The foundation of permanent bases is also one of the key issues: these can facilitate future access to the planet Mars, whose idea of conquest does not fail to stir up competition.
three nations (1) who have already succeeded in at least one moon landing: the United States, Russia (former Soviet Union) and China (2). On the list of aspirants to this very closed club are India, South Korea and Japan, which have launched their own missions and seem to have the potential to achieve their ambitious objectives. A club in which former members have not said their last word to reproduce their past exploits and reaffirm their leadership in this area.
Russia and India in direct competition
Russia launched its first mission to the moon in nearly half a century last Friday, to give new impetus to its space program led by the space agency Roscosmos. The Luna-25 probe, the first to land on the Moon in more than 40 years, is scheduled to land between August 21 and 24.
The Indian probe Chandrayaan-3 would land on the 23rd or 24th of the same month. It would be the first moon landing for India after two other failed attempts. The two countries are therefore fighting for the “first place” in a few days, even a few hours…
In addition, this space race has another peculiarity: Russia and India are in direct competition to explore the south pole of the Moon. This area of interest could contain water in craters, frozen due to the low temperatures prevailing there. A discovery that would be capital.
“If there is ice on the upper layer of the lunar surface near the landing site, scientific instruments aboard Luna-25 will be able to detect it.”says Olga Zakutniaya, spokesperson for the Russian Institute for Space Research (IKI), which is responsible for the scientific part of the current Russian mission.
Finding water on the Moon would mean the satellite is human-habitable in the future and encourage space exploration beyond current limits. That’s why all eyes are currently on advances in space technology, fueled by competition between Russia and India.
Establish a permanent human presence on the moon
However, it is important to note that this “race to the moon” is not exactly a direct competition between nations. China, for example, has expressed its intention to collaborate with other countries. For Europe, if the European Space Agency (ESA) has so far ruled out participating in the construction of a lunar base with China, it remains an important partner of NASA.
The American space agency has entrusted ESA with the creation of a module, the ESM, to European Service Module. This is essential for the US Artemis program, whose goal is to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon, by building a base that would allow a crew to stay there for months.
The ESM will supply future missions with energy, water and oxygen: a first “empty” test is scheduled for August 29. The cost of the first module, development and construction, amounts to more than 600 million euros. NASA has planned a budget of more than 2 billion euros to order several ESMs.
In order to perpetuate the human presence on the Moon, the use of the resources available on site is crucial, such as water ice (whose recent scientific studies estimate by hypothesis its quantity on the satellite at 600 million tons) and the regolith.
Different approaches
For China, the Chang’e 8 mission aims to use lunar earth and rocks to produce building bricks. A first step towards establishing a sustainable Chinese base that could emerge from here “20 or 30 years”, according to scientist Yu Dengyun, an engineer of the CNSA (China National Space Administration). The CNSA plans to build bases either on the surface of the Moon, or within its craters, at greater depths.
Japan, for its part, favors the idea of constructions capable of generating artificial gravity and of moving. South Korea launched a probe on August 4 from Cape Canaveral in Florida (again showing international collaboration). “Danuri” will reach the Moon for orbit around it in December 2023.
In addition to these new major players in a “new space conquest”, the United Arab Emirates (3) also conducted or are conducting smaller missions around the Moon. These missions have specific objectives, such as the analysis of the composition of the Moon, the study of its surface and a better understanding of its tectonic activity.
Notes :
(1) In 2019, with the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the Indian space agency (ISRO) launched a probe which attempted a moon landing. It crashed on the lunar ground. Some of the equipment nevertheless allowed the continuity of a transmission of scientific data. For Israel, the same year, the probe Beresheet (בְּרֵאשִׁית) also attempted a moon landing, without success or keeping equipment capable of transmitting information on the ground.
(2) With Chang’e (嫦娥) programs
(3) Abu Dhabi failed to land a small robot named “Rashid”. The technical process was designed in collaboration with Japan.
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