The world witnessed its first space race during the Cold War starting from the moon. In 2023, we saw a space race almost similar to enhance understanding of the moon’s surface and environment.
The Moon: Destination for Space Exploration
The moon has always been of great interest among poets, scientists, and astronomers alike. Whenever humanity thinks about settling on another celestial body other than Earth, the moon has always been the first choice.
This is mainly due to the habitable atmosphere on the moon (compared to planets) and partly because it is considered the only moon satellite of Earth.
Moon Missions in 2023: A New Space Race
Several lunar missions have been carried out in the past, with more planned for the coming years. Similarly, in 2023, we witnessed several lunar missions – Chandrayaan-3, Luna-25, and SLIM. All of these missions aimed to study the moon in a different manner than the others, but the collective goal was to investigate the moon’s suitability for human life.
Chandrayaan-3 by India
India made history with the landing of its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the moon’s surface. What made this unique space achievement remarkable is that India became the first country to land on the moon’s south pole and achieve a soft landing.
As the name suggests, Chandrayaan-3 was India’s third lunar mission, launched on July 14, featuring a landing, a rover, and a propulsion module. It successfully landed in the southern polar region of the moon on August 23.
SLIM by Japan
Japan launched the SLIM mission to the moon on September 6. SLIM stands for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, which carries a lunar lander, a small rover, and a space telescope called XRISM. SLIM successfully entered lunar orbit on December 25.
Luna-25 by Russia
Roscosmos launched the Luna-25 mission on August 10 with the aim of landing a spacecraft on the moon. It was launched aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny launch site. Unfortunately, it crashed on the moon on August 19 due to a technical failure.
Chang’e 6 by China
For China, preparations began in 2023 for the launch of the Chang’e 6 mission, a planned robotic lunar exploration mission. It is expected to be launched in 2024 and will carry out China’s second sample return mission. It will attempt to obtain soil and rock samples from the far side of the moon and bring them back to Earth.
A Golden Age of Space Travel
On the other hand, the United States has not attempted to land on the moon since 1972. However, with the upcoming Artemis missions, NASA aims to land humans on the moon once again. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson described this as a “golden age” of space travel, culminating in the landing of Artemis astronauts on the moon in late 2025.
In summary, 2023 saw a new space race for the exploration of the moon and its surface and environment. Significant lunar missions were conducted by India, Japan, and Russia, and a future Chinese mission is planned. These missions are not merely individual achievements for countries, but part of a larger knowledge base that will ultimately help humans settle on the moon.
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