 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 by Clyde Hughes Washington DC (SPX) Jul 13, 2019
India will try to become just the fourth country to make a soft landing on the moon, after its Chandrayaan 2 mission takes off Monday. India's space agency is making final preparations over the next three days before liftoff from an island in the Bay of Bengal, officials said. The spacecraft will take two months to get to the moon, first going into orbit 60 miles above the lunar surface before deploying the Vikram lander in September. Once the Vikram lands, it will release a six-wheel rover to study the environment. "Chandrayaan 2 is an Indian lunar mission that will boldly go where no country has ever gone before - the moon's south polar region," the Indian Space Research Organization said. "The aim is to improve our understanding of the Moon - discoveries that will benefit India and humanity as a whole." Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed India's space program, which has been around since the 1960s, as a point of national pride and a symbol of its emerging international prominence. India space officials conducted a launch rehearsal Friday. Final preparations will begin Saturday with engineers turning on orbiter and lander power. The countdown will start Sunday with liftoff scheduled for 2:51 a.m. Monday. If the mission succeeds, India will join the United States, Russia and China as the only nations to have made soft landings on the moon. Israel attempted to put down a lander in April, but a technical glitch sent its craft crashing into the lunar surface. Source: United Press International
The Moon now has hundreds of artifacts. Should they be protected? Washington (AFP) July 11, 2019 Three rovers, six US flags, dozens of probes that either landed successfully or crashed, tools, cameras and trash: the Moon is dotted with hundreds of objects as a result of space exploration. Some experts are calling to grant them heritage status to protect them from future tourists and human activity. It all started on September 13, 1959 when Soviet probe Luna 2 smashed into Mare Imbrium, its 390 kilograms (859 pounds) of mass vaporizing, no doubt, on impact. It was followed in succession ... read more
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Google
