{"id":139748,"date":"2021-10-07T20:51:23","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T15:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=139748"},"modified":"2021-10-16T12:34:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-16T07:04:38","slug":"world-is-entering-a-new-moon-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/world-is-entering-a-new-moon-age\/","title":{"rendered":"World Is Entering\u00a0A\u00a0New Moon Age\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis<\/strong>:\u00a0About NASA\u2019s Artemis\u00a0programme,\u00a0various consequences of India joining the\u00a0programme\u00a0and how India needs to tackle all this.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

On September 7, 2019, India\u2019s Chandrayaan-2 Moon Lander crashed in a cloud of lunar dust no human\u00a0would witness. It had experienced a \u201chard landing\u201d on a desolate patch of the lunar surface.\u00a0It shows the difficulties\u00a0of the operation and \u2018optimism and determination\u2019\u00a0that go into India\u2019s spacefaring aspirations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why there is\u00a0attraction\u00a0of\u00a0Moon?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Firstly,<\/b><\/em>\u00a0Moon\u00a0is barren, lifeless and lethal to humans. However,\u00a0<\/span>its proximity to Earth and its low gravity\u00a0makes\u00a0it a\u00a0potential launching pad for future missions into interplanetary space,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly,<\/b><\/em>\u00a0it\u00a0enables\u00a0us to explore the inner solar\u00a0system as well as the vast, largely uncharted expanses that lie beyond the Asteroid Belt.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Third,<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The Moon is also\u00a0believed to\u00a0<\/span>hold natural resources that could help fuel those future expeditions<\/span><\/b>. For instance, the water\u00a0discovered on the lunar surface by India\u2019s previous Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, could provide both\u00a0hydrogen for fuel, and oxygen for breathing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is NASA\u2019s Artemis\u00a0programme?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

NASA\u2019s Artemis\u00a0programme\u00a0is the most ambitious lunar exploration undertaking since the\u00a0Apollo missions.<\/span>\u00a0It plans to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in the coming years.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0It\u00a0will\u00a0also\u00a0include a massive technological effort to build new launchers, spacecraft\u00a0and ground-based facilities as well as putting a gateway module in orbit around the Moon, to act as a\u00a0stepping stone for further space exploration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is\u00a0India\u2019s dilemma\u00a0regarding Artemis?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Partnering with the Artemis\u00a0programme\u00a0would make it much easier for India to ramp up its own lunar\u00a0projects. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, as a precondition for joining the\u00a0programme, India would have to sign up to a set of\u00a0NASA-defined rules<\/strong> called the Artemis Accords, which 11 countries have signed including Australia, Japan, Brazil, South Korea and the UK. <\/span>Most of these\u00a0are not harmful and related\u00a0with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, to which India is also a party.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The most problematic Artemis principle<\/strong> is the one that allows for the extraction and use of resources in\u00a0space. While the Outer Space Treaty prohibits claims of sovereignty in space, it says nothing about private\u00a0ownership and leaves open the possibility of using lunar resources.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As US dominates the global commercial space industry, it will harvest the greatest benefits.\u00a0 For instance, <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

-In 2015, the US Congress passed a bill enabling private entities to use the mineral resources of other\u00a0celestial bodies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

-In 2020, then President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing US diplomats\u00a0to \u201cdevelop joint statements, bilateral agreements and multilateral instruments\u201d that would make the use of\u00a0space resources an international norm.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Artemis Accords are a direct outcome of this effort.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Russia-China problem: <\/span><\/b>India\u2019s choices are also complicated by the existence of the rival Russia-China International Lunar Research Station project. Further, Russians and Chinese are also slated to come up with their own version of Artemis Accords by the end of 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

So,\u00a0we have\u00a0three options \u2013 join Artemis Accords,\u00a0join ILRS, or go solo.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the consequences of these three options\u00a0and what should India do?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

India may lose out on major opportunities if it seeks to explore space by itself. ILRS attractions are spoiled by the presence of China. So, the least bad option for India would be to join the Artemis programme.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of agreeing to all US\u00a0demand,\u00a0India must\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– insist on <\/span>mechanisms for\u00a0sharing technology and space infrastructure<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– use informal fora, like the newly set up Quad working group on space to push for more detailed norms governing activities on celestial bodies. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span><\/b>India must continue to pursue bilateral space cooperation with Russia, which may even allow it to benefit\u00a0from some of the capabilities developed for the ILRS project. The time for active space diplomacy is now.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>: This post is based on the article “World Is Entering A New Moon Age<\/strong>” published in The Times of India<\/strong> on 6th October 2021<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synopsis:\u00a0About NASA\u2019s Artemis\u00a0programme,\u00a0various consequences of India joining the\u00a0programme\u00a0and how India needs to tackle all this.\u00a0 Introduction\u00a0 On September 7, 2019, India\u2019s Chandrayaan-2 Moon Lander crashed in a cloud of lunar dust no human\u00a0would witness. It had experienced a \u201chard landing\u201d on a desolate patch of the lunar surface.\u00a0It shows the difficulties\u00a0of the operation and \u2018optimism… Continue reading World Is Entering\u00a0A\u00a0New Moon Age\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10224,10223,9215,8992],"class_list":["post-139748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-moon-exploration","tag-nasa-artemis-programme","tag-space-exploration","tag-space-technology","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704913449},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}