Jakarta –
The moon will be the seventh continent for Earthlings. This place is the only ‘continent’ whose wealth and resources have not been conquered and exploited.
This idea, which was formulated more than half a century ago in the Soviet Union (Russia considered Eurasia, aka Europe and Asia, as one continent), was revived with the rise of missions to the south pole of the Moon that became its target. Here, extraterrestrial technological forces will compete for new ‘gold’ on the Moon, namely water sources.
Quoted from Breathe, India’s Chandrayaan-3 on Wednesday (23/8), made history as the fourth country to successfully carry out a soft landing on the Moon after the Soviet Union, the US and China, as well as being the first country to reach the south pole of the Moon. Meanwhile, at almost the same time, Russia, which was originally scheduled to do the same thing a few days before the landing of Chandrayaan-3, had to accept the harsh reality that the Luna-25 spacecraft had an accident after crashing into the moon. Although not the first to land on the south pole of the Moon, the country still has the ambition to continue its mission.
Just like Russia and India, Japan also joined the competition to explore the Moon with the launch of the Slim mission, a small device developed by the Japanese space agency JAXA which took off on August 26. Instead of landing at the south pole which is the target of many countries, Japan focuses on landing far from the pole, namely in the equatorial zone of the Moon.
But according to the US, the main rival in this space exploration race is not Russia or India, but China.
“I don’t want China to go to the South Pole first with humans and then claim it by saying ‘This is ours’,” said Administrator of the US National Space Agency NASA, Bill Nelson.
China made history by being the first to reach the far side of the Moon through the Chang’e 3 mission in 2019, and this year the Chang’e-5 mission revealed the presence of abundant iron on the Moon in the +3 oxidation state. This Moon exploration program will continue in the next phase through the Chang’e-6, Chang’e-7 and Chang’e 8 missions in the next 10 years.
Not to forget, there is the US which has long planned not only exploring the Moon, but repeating its glory more than half a century ago to be able to send astronauts there again. Artemis 1 mission launches in 2022, aiming to test the Orion aircraft and in preparation for the next mission. The Artemis 2 mission, which will be manned by three Americans and one Canadian, will depart in late 2024 to fly over the Moon.
The next mission, set for December 2025, will fly the first woman and first black astronaut to set foot on the Moon. The US also aims to be able to land on the south pole.
If the Moon is made a map of which countries have marked their ‘lots’, it will look like the image below.
Moon Exploration Photo: NASA/ESA/ROSCOSMOS/JAXA/ISRO
For your information, the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty prohibited any country from claiming ownership of the Moon. However, there are no provisions that can stop commercial operations.
The US-led effort to establish a set of principles for exploration of the Moon and use of its resources, the Artemis Treaty, has been signed by 27 countries. But China and Russia have yet to sign the agreement.
Watch Video “China Accelerates the Fourth Phase of the Moon Exploration Project”
(rns/rns)
2023-09-02 15:00:29
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