Why Are Space Organizations Hurrying to the South Pole of the Moon?

India’s space agency is making an effort to land a spacecraft on the moon’s south pole. If successful, this mission would promote India’s aspirations for space exploration and increase our understanding of lunar water ice, which may be one of the moon’s most precious resources.

What is known about the existence of frozen water on the moon and why space agencies and commercial businesses see it as a key to a moon colony, lunar mining, and prospective expeditions to Mars are described here.

The much anticipated Chandrayaan-3 moon mission will go off on July 14, 2023. The only three nations that have accomplished soft landings on the moon are the Soviet Union, the United States, and China.

HOW DID SCIENTISTS DECIDE THAT THE MOON HAD WATER?

Before the first Apollo landing in the 1960s, scientists had hypothesized that water may be present on the moon. The late 1960s and early 1970s samples that the Apollo astronauts sent back for study seemed to be dry.

When Brown University researchers used new equipment to explore those lunar samples in 2008, they discovered hydrogen within microscopic beads of volcanic glass. A NASA sensor mounted on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft of the Indian Space Research Organisation found water on the moon’s surface in 2009.

WHY IS THE MOON’S WATER IMPORTANT?

Because they could preserve evidence of lunar volcanoes, material that comets and asteroids brought to Earth, and the creation of oceans, pockets of ancient water ice are of interest to scientists.

If there is enough water ice, it might serve as a supply of drinking water for lunar exploration and serve to keep equipment cold.

Additionally, it might be broken down to provide oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for propulsion, assisting journeys to Mars or lunar mining.

Any country cannot claim its possession of the moon, according to the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty. There is no clause that would halt business activities.

The Artemis Accords, a U.S.-led initiative to develop a set of guidelines for moon exploration and the exploitation of its resources, have 27 signatories. Russia and China haven’t signed.

The much anticipated Chandrayaan-3 moon mission will go off on July 14, 2023. The only three nations that have accomplished soft landings on the moon are the Soviet Union, the United States, and China.

WHAT SPECIFICALLY MAKES THE SOUTH POLE TROUBLESOME?

There have been unsuccessful moon landing attempts previously. The Luna-25 spacecraft from Russia was supposed to touch down on the south pole this week, but on approach it spun out of control and crashed on Sunday.

The south pole is full of craters and deep pits and lies far from the equatorial area that was the objective of earlier missions, including the crewed Apollo landings.

According to the space agency, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission is on schedule to make an attempt at a landing on Wednesday. In 2019, an earlier Indian mission that tried to land safely close to the place Chandrayaan-3 was aiming for failed.

Missions to the south pole are planned by both China and the United States.