India becomes first country to land near Moon’s south pole

the Lander module has begun its descent towards the landing site if the importance of space exploration is measured by steps and leaps for mankind this was a hop skip and a jump of a success for the Indian Republic [Applause] [Laughter] India became only the fourth country to land on the moon but the first to make it to the lunar South Pole their hand s the chandruin 3 spacecraft landed at 604 PM local time putting India into the history books and didn't those at space control in Bengaluru know it beamed in and beaming from the brick Summit in South Africa prime minister Narendra Modi was very much front and center this moment is unprecedented this is a proclamation of a developed India this moment is new India's Victory cry such is the symbolism of India's Triumph that in the days and hours ahead of this perilous Landing a deeply religious Nation came together in mosques temples schools and offices on a rocket wing and a prayer they did it foreign exploration in the 2000s so in a space of 20 years having done the multiple orbitals around the moon and now they have a Lander and a Rover on the moon so going from you know so it I think it's it's huge India's fate is phenomenal also due to how little they've spent the budget for the chandrian 3 mission was around 74 million dollars that's smaller than the amount spent on the Hollywood films gravity or Interstellar Russia's space agency budget was around 2.9 billion dollars last year while China spent an estimated 12 billion dollars and NASA which wants to land people on the Moon by 2025 is expected to Fork out 93 billion dollars in getting there two one zero India managed to do this partly due to cheap labor but the chandrian 3 also didn't use huge expensive Rockets instead using several orbits of the earth to then catapult it to the lunar South Pole many countries want to reach that area because scientists believe frozen water could hold the key to setting up permanent bases with a potential two for mining minerals even if any of these nations are able to access water excess minerals you still have to take that and convert it into a usable form part of this race though is you know the nation that gets there first they set the rules of the game that's why today even though Russia's Sergey lavrov congratulated his Indian counterpart there was no hint of a smile because Russia's attempted to get to the South Pole failed this weekend and while Moscow has a pact with China on space in June Modi signed India up to the Artemis Accords and American LED treaty that seeks International cooperation and peace in space China and Russia have not signed up to those Accords and that's led to fears of what Beijing in particular might do next they are going Full Throttle in in expanding their space capabilities not just on the civilian and exploration front but what they're doing on the National Security side that is incredibly opaque they also have it increased their what we call counter space weapons so their ability to hold at risk other countries satellite capabilities and that is concerning this is a far cry from the last space race when the UN broke at the 1967 outer space treaty and the 1979 Moon agreement setting out the idea that space wasn't right for political picking and posturing this treaty means that the moon in our sister planets will serve only the purposes of peace and not a war despite the dark side of this moon race it can't dampen the joy and pride felt by so many Indian citizens today space has always had the ability to inspire and so for now they can Savor the stars above Kira moodley reporting there Dr namrata goswami is an author and Professor based in Alabama who specializes in space policy and international relations I spoke to her earlier and I began by asking how much of a Triumph this was for India what it means for its competitors Russia and China for India it's a Triumph because it's a completely self-reliant end-to-end space capacity that India has built so on its own indigenously so it's a big Triumph and also it now tells you that India has moved ahead of Russia it showcases to you that India has now that capacity for autonomous landing and docking for China it's a very interesting strategic period because China is planning to send a mission to the South Pole next year called the changor six that particular Mission will also do exactly what India has done autonomously land as well as collect samples so the fact that India succeeded a year earlier gives India and the Artemis Accord signatories a year ahead of understanding the lunar terrain and looking for space resources as well in terms of the Practical purpose of the mission number one aim to find water which is thought to be on on the South Pole um of the Moon and then use that as a launch pad to explore deep space is that your reading of it the experiments on the Rover is to study the lunar surface for not just water ice but also to study lunar resources like aluminum titanium iron or silicon to without any doubt proof that lunar regolith which is soil has it so once confirmed this is going to be actually utilized for further missions so all this is going to help in terms of these deep space missions as well let's talk about the money of this um one of the incredible things about today is that India's budget is a mere Millions compared to the us spending billions on their Artemis rocket Moon rocket it um but I mean I suppose some might still ask when there are so many problems in our own backyard why not fix them rather than reaching for the stars as well I think what is missed in that particular debate is that space actually has improved our lifestyle and tremendously for example we depend on the global positioning system for navigation we depend on satellite internet disaster warning weather forecasting and so fast forward to the Moon if you're really thinking about building an end-to-end system and this time it's more commercial it's more about how you can utilize the resources of the Moon to benefit Humanity so what is fascinating today is that during the course it was a lot about which particular strategic alignment is more attractive on Earth for example is it the Soviet Union or is it the United States today if you listen to the rational of the missions from China from India from the US it's a lot about CIS lunar space which is the space between the Earth and the moon having commercial benefit so does that mean that India can expect uh you know a return on its investment because it spent so much less it does it does mean that India expects return on its investment as well as the fact that India had signed the Artemis Accords so which means India's real-time operational capability to the Moon can be utilized by the Artemis partners for studying the moon for studying the South Pole and utilizing the data for actually bringing down costs on their own but is there a risk that the moon um Treaty of 1979 should in theory stop India using this advantage to its commercial Advantage um but in in a way that's untested isn't it I mean how might that not be enforced in the future and so the moon treaty actually the it's not India is not ratified it so it's signed it but not ratified the US is not a part Norwich China nor is Russia so the moon treaty does not hold valid when it comes to Major space-faring Nations so the Artemis Accord push was that we will have to have a system that is more democratic more representative and has a possibility of sharing the resources to the extent possible that benefits the signatory Nations but that system isn't there yet is it and I just wonder whether there is sufficient accountability and Democratic accountability in India to ensure that there are checks and balances I would say that the system is starting to be conceptualized I wouldn't say it's not there at all but working on progress it needs to be expedited we do not have the dispute resolution mechanisms in place yet and so we we have we are anticipating that there shouldn't be any issue because everybody has signed the outer space treaty but as you know international law does not have enforceability it's it's the enforceability part is still very weak goswami thank you very much for your time thank you so much for having me

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 140,554

Keywords: India, Moon, south pole, Moon south pole, Narendra Modi, space, space race, Nasa, Russia, China, United States, Chandrayaan-3

Id: mepc_H_iM_0

Length: 9min 20sec (560 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 23 2023