Chandrayaan – I : A Giant Leap Forward

India has been witnessing high levels of violence in the past few months. The violence has been not only been in form of terrorism but in form of religious riots and regionalism. In Orrisa, due to killing of a VHP leader, the extremist ransacked the churches and harassed nuns. In Bombay, there has been a problem with certain sections and some political circles, claiming "Mumbai for Mumbaikars". But there is one incident amongst all these brutal ones, where everyone felt proud of being an Indian rather than a Marathi or a Hindu. And that is the launching of the Chandrayaan – I by ISRO...
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The Indian mission to the Moon has met with initial success, with PSLV-C 11 successfully putting the spacecraft into the initial orbit. In days to come one will know the success of Chandrayaan-1, India’s first mission to Moon. India is the sixth country to send its spaceship to the Moon. It will be few weeks before Chandrayaan-1 reaches its final destination. This mission by ISRO takes India to new heights.

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The aim of the mission is to look out for water ice, to study moon’s origin and study lunar gravity. Chandrayaan-I was mostly a remote-sensing spacecraft, meant for scanning the lunar surface for minerals and water. The next project would look at the possibility of collecting samples and analyzing them on the spot.

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Indo-China Race

Both India and China compete even in this sphere. China has already sent a mission to moon and also sent a manned mission to space earlier this year. The Chinese astronaut also completed a 15-minute space walk. Even India is nursing big ambitions. There are proposals to send an Indian to the space by 2014 and to launch a manned lunar mission by 2020.

India also plans for another unmanned mission in 2011, which is expected to be technically more sophisticated that the present mission. The mission in 2011 is expected to have an orbiting spacecraft, a lander and a moon-rover.

India might seem to be miles behind the Chinese in the space program. But its actually not the case. The competitiveness is not only about sending a spacecraft quickly but it is about being cost effective as well. The China’s Chang’e – I is estimated to have cost nearly double of India’s Chandrayaan – I bill of $ 84-86 million.

Harvesting Helium

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One of the smaller aims of the mission is to look out for minerals. The mission will look after at the possibility of harvesting Helium-3, which is an isotope of the Helium that could be used for nuclear fusion. Even though transporting Helium from the Moon is not a feasible option now, it will become once supply of existing fuel becomes an issue. It is believed that earth has only 15 tonnes of Helium-3. The Moon is expected to have around 5 million tonnes of this mineral, which could be tapped to produce energy for the entire world fora estimated 8,000 years. It is estimated that three space shuttle missions could bring enough Helium-3 for the energy requirements of the entire world. This could be the solution that all the scientists are working to solve the energy shortage issues.