Re:India to Attempt Moon Landing at the Lunar South Pole Today
by m0zg on Friday September 06, 2019 @08:09PM
(#20900941)
The USSR was the first to land on the moon and send images back (in 1966), but ever since the US landed people there, they were technologically behind, albeit not very far behind. They could have done it, but with Americans flying there twice a year, the race was already lost. So they sent some large robotic landers instead (Lunokhod 1 and 2), the kind that are the size of a VW beetle and are designed to survive the night. Unlike manned missions, which lasted at most 3 days, Lunokhod 2 was active on the surface of the moon for 4 months, traveled 42km, and sent back 80000 pictures.
Re:India to Attempt Moon Landing at the Lunar South Pole Today
by thewhitetulip on Friday September 06, 2019 @11:30PM
(#20901619)
> Modi is definitely investing in space, with the manned mission in a couple of years. I just hope this doesn't impact that.
Are you serious? All these projects were funded since UPA2 time. This craft was to go in 2013 but Russia backed out so postponed to 2016.
Same story with Mars Orbiter Mission
I don't think Modi has any money left after his disasterous economic policies which have brought an economic slowdown. Also if he is funding space missions they'll fly in 2025 or so because building those missions takes time
That's an interesting point and worth further analysis. But, just to probe a little, that would imply that US and USSR were technically equally advanced in the 60s.
Is that true?
Moreover, what about nations that have not invested much in space at all, but otherwise are probably doing well from technical advancement standpoint.
This is certainly a measure, but is it the measure?
Modi is definitely investing in space, with the manned mission in a couple of years. I just hope this doesn't impact that.