Importance of the MoonWho doesn’t like friends? Every person sometime or the other must have had at least one friend in his life; of course this statement may not always be true for an enemy. It is also true, that every person desires to have life long friendships, but only a few are fortunate enough to have such lasting companionships. Our Earth is surely one among them!
Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. The word natural is used because now it is possible to have man-made satellites orbit about the Earth or orbit about the other planets of the Solar System. While addressing to such man-made satellites, the word artificial is usually used. Moon is the second brightest object in the sky and hence has always fascinated the humans, no need to separately mention about the poets. Moon has remained an object of study since the days when humans had hard times even for igniting fire to cook food. Moon along with the stars and planets, sowed the seeds of immortal curiosity in the brains of humans for the space that extends upto infinity beyond the Earth.
According to the latest theories, it implies that there would have been no intelligent life on the Earth if the Moon were not present. This is hard to believe. One would ask that what role does Moon play in the evolution of life? Moon itself is a lifeless world.
It is true that there is no life on the Moon, but we know that the Moon is responsible for the rise and fall of the water in the oceans, which we know as tides. It is believed that the evolution of life started in the water. Several different kinds of microorganisms came into existence; these were all unicellular organisms. Slowly, multi-cellular could come into being. At the time of maximum tide, billions of these organisms and other small sea-creatures were often thrown on the shore along with the seawater. Most of them could not return back, because the next sea-tide was usually of less intensity. This phenomenon forced the water creatures to get adapted to the land environments. Than the evolution of life progressed speedily resulting in millions of species all over.
The tides in the sea exert tremendous pressure on the plates of the Earth. We are talking about the rigid layer of the Earth’s crust. The land on which our buildings are standing, on which we play Cricket, Football and also the land on which the world wars have taken place. The upper layer of the Earth is broken into a few pieces, which we know as plates. The tides in the sea give momentum to the underlying plates, as a result of which they keep on moving. Such thing we experience in day-to-day life, if a bucket full of water is moved rapidly from side to side, waves forms in the water hitting the sides of the bucket and the bucket moves; so does the plates.
Because of the motion of the plates, they often collide with each other, giving rise to earthquakes and volcanoes. These activities have also played major role in the evolution of life on the Earth. Several such indirect links can be traced up to the Moon to shed light on the part of its contribution and significance.
How humans neared to the Moon
Before the invention of the telescope, not much was known. But, when Galileo in 1609, directed his telescope over Moon, he was amazed to see the beautiful features of the lunar land. He drew one of the first telescopic drawing of the Moon in his book Sidereus Nuncius and noted that it was not smooth but had craters. Later, many scientists studied the Moon in minute details with the aid of telescope and drew several maps depicting the exact features of the moon surface.
Than came the space age. Moon was widely explored with the help of spacecrafts between the periods 1960 to 1970. The two giants, USA and USSR (Soviet / Russia), to prove their superiority pumped billions of dollars for the exploration of the Moon. It was one of the biggest and the most expensive race between them. USSR was the first to have a spacecraft go around the Moon and also the first to picture the other unseen side of the Moon. On the other hand, USA was the first in having a man walk on the surface of Moon.
The first man to walk on the lunar surface was Neil Armstrong, commander of the American mission Apollo 11. The last man to stand on the Moon was Eugene Cernan, who as part of the mission Apollo 17 walked on the Moon in December 1972. As of 2006, only 12 people have walked on the surface of the Moon and it is unlikely that any new individual will walk on the surface of the Moon for at least another decade.
From India to Moon – Chandrayaan - I
Twelve different people set foot on the surface of the Moon and only four countries (USA, Russia, Japan and Europe) have sent their un-manned missions to the Moon. In the recent past, there hasn’t been any mission to Moon. World’s top most space-agencies (NASA & ESA) are concentrating on exploring the other bodies of the solar system, like planets, their satellites, comets and asteroids.
India has never had any deep space mission, but soon this is going to change. An Indian agency, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), have decided for an un-manned mission to the Moon. The mission is named as Chandrayaan – I, which means Moon (chandra) Craft (yaan). Authorities at ISRO say, that enough progress in planning has been made to say that the missino will take place in 2007 or 2008. The spacecraft is planned to orbit about the Moon. It shall not land on the Moon.
The spacecraft will do the survey for 2 years by making several orbits around the Moon, especially the polar region, as it might contain the water ice. The spacecraft will carry high-resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard x-ray frequencies. During the survey, spacecraft will map 3-dimensional topography of the lunar surface and also map its chemical characteristics. Another objective of the mission is to study about the distribution of the various minerals and chemical elements including radioactive nuclides. It is hoped that the mission will provide new insights about the origin of the Moon and its evolution.
The entire mission is estimated to cost Rs 3.8 billions (US$ 83 million). On successful completion of the mission, ISRO will stand among the first five Space Explorers of the World. Although, people of other countries have already walked on the surface of Moon decades ago, it is still not too late for India. It is a very bold India is taking with more to follow with manned missions and challenging missions to other planets of the Solar System.
Even the mission Chandrayaan – I is not an easy one. It is not just that you aim for an object and shoot, and the spacecraft is on Moon. Both the bodies, the Earth and the Moon, are moving with respect to each other. The Moon shall be at a totally different position when the spacecraft will reach near it.
The spacecraft, once launched, will not go directly, but will make two to three orbits about the Earth and than will go towards the Moon. Once the spacecraft reaches the Moon, it will again make a few revolutions around the Moon before it finally makes adequate orbital settings. Another interesting aspect of this mission is that the other space agencies like NASA and ESA are going to install their equipments for carrying out more research of the Moon. For these, ISRO is not charging, but have mutual understanding about data sharing. The spacecraft will be launched with the help of India’s indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
More on Moon....
Moon makes one complete orbit about the Earth approximately once every 28 days. Moon is slowly receding away from the Earth at the rate of 38 mm per year. The Moon has a relatively insignificant and tenuous atmosphere. Due to low gravity, Moon is unable to hold the gases for longer period, whatever atmospheric gases it has are all due to the temporarily captured Solar Wind.
Ending with the hope for a spectacular launch...
Let us extend our best wishes to the ISRO and its entire staff for achieving a success for India’s most prestigious mission Chandrayaan-1.
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