Everyone ’s going back to the moon. But why?

As the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo landing approaches, a host of countries are undertaking lunar missions. What ’s behind the new space race?At 2.51am on Monday 15 July, engineers at India ’s national spaceport at Sriharikota will blast their Chandrayaan-2 probe into orbit around the Earth. It will be the most ambitious space mission the nation has attempted. For several days, the four-tonne spacecraft will be manoeuvred above our planet before a final injection burn of its engines will send it hurtling towards its destination: the moon.Exactly 50 years after the astronauts of Apollo 11 made their historic voyage to the Sea of Tranquillity, Chandrayaan-2 will repeat that journey – though on a slightly different trajectory. After the robot craft enters lunar orbit, it will gently drop a lander, named Vikram, on to the moon’s surface near its south pole. A robot rover, Pragyan, will then be dispatched and, for the next two weeks, trundle across the local terrain, analysin g the chemical composition of soil and rocks.Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - July 7, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Robin McKie Observer science editor Tags: The moon Apollo 11 Space International Space Station Science Source Type: news