Crowded Moon?
Published on Oct 24, 2007 at 12:03 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under moon, space exploration.
Today China’s Chang’e spacecraft was launched on its way to the Moon. When Chang’e arrives it will be joining Japan’s Kaguya (SELENE) which is already in orbit around the Moon. In addition to cameras, Kaguya sports a battery of spectrometers and radar instruments. 
The Kaguya spacecraft has also deployed two sub-satellites which are also in orbit around the Moon. One of the sub-satellites is a relay satellite for use when the mothership is behind the Moon and cut off from direct communication. The other is an interferometry satellite that will be used to measure the Moon’s gravitational field. The goal of the Kaguya mission is to map the Moon and to seek to investigate its origins and geological history.
Chang’e appears a bit less sophisticated, but that is to be expected given that it is China’s first lunar mission. Kaguya is Japan’s second lunar mission (or third mission, if you count one that failed). Part of this first Chinese mission to another world is to develop technology. Still, Chang’e should provide useful data on the Moon. It, too, includes cameras and spectrometers to use in studying the Moon.
But Chang’e and Kaguya won’t be all by themselves orbiting the Moon for long. In April of 2008, India plans to launch its Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon. Chandrayaan-1 will carry six Indian and six international instrument packages. These instruments will image the Moon and map its topography. There are also imaging spectrometers to determine the composition of the lunar surface, including one contributed by the United States, and radiation sensors to monitor the radiation environment of the Moon. Chandrayaan-1 also carries a small sub-satellite that will be deliberately hurled into the lunar surface. India hopes to follow up Chandrayaan-1 with another mission, Chandrayaan-2 in another two or three years. The second Indian lunar mission may actually land on the surface on the Moon, and it may even contain a rover.
Later in 2008, NASA plans to launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to the Moon. The LRO will also measure lunar topography and it will investigate the lunar radiation environment, in part as a prelude to manned missions to the Moon that are to follow.
Russia isn’t being left out in all of this, though. They intend to launch a mission called Luna-Glob in 2012. Details of the Luna-Glob mission are still to be determined, but it is reported to include lunar penetrators that will be fired at the Moon in various places. These penetrators will serve as seismic stations to measure the interior structure of the Moon better than has ever been done before.
The European Space Agency (ESA) recently sent the SMART-1 spacecraft to the Moon. They have plans for a human mission to the Moon by 2024. However, before then, the United Kingdom plans to launch its won mission called MoonLITE to investigate the Moon. MoonLITE will use penetrators to study the lunar interior much like Luna-Glob. Germany intends to launch its own Lunar Exploration Orbiter by 2012.
And, of course, all of this doesn’t include the planned manned missions and all the other, as yet unnamed, support missions for those manned flights. During the 1960s and early 1970s, the Moon was the target of numerous American and Soviet missions. Then, it sat for about two decades being ignored. A few missions have been to the Moon in the last few years, but all of a sudden there has been a surge in lunar activity. It is about time! It seems pretty silly to have the Moon right here on our doorstep only to be ignoring it. At least, the Moon is finally getting the attention that it deserves.
-Astroprof
Spacecraft image credit: Wikimedia
Moon image credit: Astroprof
Astroprof’s Page » Earth-Set on November 14, 2007 at 10:23 pm: 1
[…] The Kaguya pictures are of higher quality, but they can not detract from the historical significance of the earlier pictures. But, besides sending back some pretty pictures, the Kaguya spacecraft is working just fine, and it is sending back great data. Kaguya has already been joined by China’s Chang’e spacecraft, and it will soon be joined by others. I am really happy to see such a renewed interest in studying our nearest celestial neighbor. The Moon has been overlooked for far too long. […]
John on November 15, 2007 at 1:00 pm: 2
India’s lunar space mission seems to be the most significant amongst the others. It is carrying six international payloads and carrying out experiments whose results will be used by other countries such as Germany, UK, Russia who are planning their own lunar missions sometime later. It would be interesting to see if it’ll build a “lunar rover” as well, which again might benefit the international space community.
Looking at such increased lunar activity, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves - “are colonies on moon still just a vision”?
Astroprof’s Page » India shoots for the Moon on October 22, 2008 at 10:41 am: 3
[…] Orbiter in the spring of 2009. Several other missions are also in the works. About a year ago, I wrote about the flurry of space missions to the Moon. Since then, some of the timelines have changed, with […]