Grand plans
More than a third of a century has passed since the Apollo Program carried Americans to the moon between 1969 and 1972. While those flights and subsequent unmanned probes have brought back scientific data, they have not come close to answering questions about earth's natural satellite.
But the new discoveries have sparked off a moon rush. In 2004, us president George W Bush unveiled a 40-year programme for exploring outer space in which the lunar fantasy was predominant. Called the Earth-Moon-Mars-and-Beyond (emmb) Vision, this ambitious programme looks at the possibility of using the moon as a platform for exploring other planets in the solar system, apart from creating the first human habitat outside the earth. After the break-up of the ussr, Russia has refrained from reaching out for the moon because they don't have money. But China, Japan and India, as we have seen, are actively pursuing moon missions, while the eu, the us's biggest space rival, is debating a human space flight programme. But the eu programme is still to get off the blocks.
Chinese revolution
China made public its plans to explore the moon in November 2000. The plan said the first phase of the programme, consisting primarily of launching orbiters, would be over by 2010. The first of the lot, named Chang'e-1, weighing about 2.6 tonnes, will orbit the moon for at least a year. It will record three-dimensional images of the surface, measure the content and density of the moon's soil, and explore its environment, according to the China National Space Administration. The satellite, which will cost nearly us $170 million, will also probe the space environment between the moon and the earth and measure the solar radiation that incessantly hits the lunar surface.
The second phase of the Chinese lunar exploration programme, which should commence by 2010-2012, will be landing missions. According to the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, researchers in China are currently working on a series of robot probes, which will land and explore the lunar surface. The rovers will have a camera, a telescope and seismological equipment to register quake activity on the moon. The rovers' main purpose will be to help locate a base on the moon. This will be followed by manned flights, exploring the possibility of exploiting precious resources on the lunar surface and possible colonisation.
China hopes to become the second nation in the world to put a man on the moon
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