The unmanned Indian spacecraft Vikram had lost contact with Earth over 36 hours ago. It had traveled millions of kilometers but 2.1 km away from the surface of the moon, they lost contact. They were unsure of whether the craft had actually landed on the moon or if it had floated away. When news came in this morning, it seems the craft had landed on the South Pole side of the moon but they are still unsure of what condition it is in. However because it did land, India is now the fourth country to have landed an spacecraft on the moon. The mission was for the craft to explore the terrain of the moon for a few weeks because in one of India's previous missions, Chandrayaan-1 (meaning moon craft in Sanskrit), there was ice spotted on the South Pole of the moon. They were going to measure the ice chunks and see if it was viable for life. If the Indian Space Research Organization is able to work the spacecraft from Earth, this may be the beginning to seeing if there is life possible outside of our planet.
1 comment:
I think that India's endeavors in space exploration are commendable, for personally I believe not enough countries allocate resources towards scientific explorations. Although the mission did not go exactly as plan, the more countries in space exploration prevents one country from monopolizing.
The scientific community thrives on diversity of scientists theories and explorations, for the more people in the field leads to an increase in corroboration of scientific findings, as well as criticism of findings. Although tensions may be high among countries down on earth, the international space station is a great example of countries working together in peace. While it may be highly optimistic, I believe that if humans truly want to be successful in exploring for alternate life they must utilize all their resources and findings, for we are essentially in search of an entirely new form of life. Such a finding is not just impactful to one country but rather the entire human race.
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