\n Credit: Pixabay\/CC0 Public Domain
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nJapan, whose unmanned “sniper” probe will attempt a lunar landing on Saturday, is one of many countries and private companies launching new missions to the moon.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n<\/section>\nIt is a feat so far only achieved by four nations\u2014the United States, the Soviet Union, China and most recently India\u2014with spacecraft often losing communication or crash-landing.<\/p>\n
The modern lunar exploration programs include plans to put people on the moon for the first time since 1972 and eventually establish bases there.<\/p>\n
Here is a rundown of the latest moonshots:<\/p>\n
United States<\/h2>\n
The first country to land on the moon wants to build a sustained presence there as a pitstop for missions to Mars.<\/p>\n
But it has faced two setbacks this month, as NASA postponed plans for crewed lunar missions and a private lander had to turn back after leaking fuel.<\/p>\n
Under NASA’s Artemis program, astronauts had been due to fly around the moon this year but the mission has been pushed back to 2025 to allow for extra safety checks.<\/p>\n
A third Artemis voyage\u2014to put the first woman and first person of color on lunar soil\u2014is now scheduled for 2026 instead of 2025.<\/p>\n
Even that may be optimistic, because the Artemis 3 lander, a modified version of SpaceX’s next-gen Starship rocket, has exploded in two test flights.<\/p>\n
NASA says commercial tie-ups give it “more shots on goal” although its Peregrine lunar lander, made by US company Astrobotic, failed when it lost fuel after take-off.<\/p>\n
The next attempt, by Texas-based Intuitive Machines, launches in February.<\/p>\n
India<\/h2>\n
“India is on the moon!” the country’s space agency chair announced to cheers at mission control in August after Chandrayaan-3 became the first craft to land near the moon’s south pole.<\/p>\n
The unmanned mission orbited Earth several times to build up speed for its journey, resulting in a historic triumph for India’s ambitious, cut-price space program.<\/p>\n
In 2014, India became the first Asian nation to orbit a probe around Mars, and Chandrayaan-3 followed a successful launch into lunar orbit in 2008 and a failed moon landing in 2019.<\/p>\n
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a dozen missions planned for 2024, including preparation for a three-day trip into Earth’s orbit\u2014its first crewed space flight.<\/p>\n
Russia<\/h2>\n
The Luna-25 mission in August was meant to mark Russia’s return to independent lunar exploration, nearly half a century after the Soviet Union last landed on the moon.<\/p>\n
But the lander crashed on the moon’s rocky surface, where it had been supposed to collect samples and analyze soil for one year.<\/p>\n
The failure dealt a blow to Moscow’s hopes of building on the legacy of the Soviet-era Luna missions, as financial troubles and corruption scandals plague its space program.<\/p>\n
President Vladimir Putin has also been working to strengthen space cooperation with China after ties with the West broke down following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
China<\/h2>\n
The world’s second-largest economy has pumped billions of dollars into its military-run space program as China chases its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n
A decade since the Chang’e-3 became the first Chinese spacecraft to land on the moon, the country is now pursuing plans to send a crewed mission by 2030 and build a base there.<\/p>\n
In 2019, the unmanned Chang’e-4 landed on the far side of the moon, and a year later, Chang’e-5 brought the first lunar samples to Earth in more than 40 years.<\/p>\n
In October, the country sent a fresh team to its Tiangong space station in the latest crewed mission for the fast-growing space program.<\/p>\n
Japan<\/h2>\n
Japanese company ispace attempted a soft lunar landing in April last year but crashed, becoming the third private entity to have failed in the endeavor.<\/p>\n
Space agency JAXA has suffered a run of bad luck, losing communication with its Omotenashi lunar probe carried on Artemis 1 in 2022.<\/p>\n
It has also seen failures after lift-off of the next-generation H3 launch rocket and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon rocket.<\/p>\n
So hopes are high for a successful touchdown on Saturday of its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” for its precision landing capabilities.<\/p>\n
The pressure is on, however, as countries from South Korea to the United Arab Emirates ramp up efforts to be the next to make lunar history.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \u00a9 2024 AFP\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCitation<\/strong>:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMoon age daydream: modern lunar exploration (2024, January 17)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 17 January 2024
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Credit: Pixabay\/CC0 Public Domain Japan, whose unmanned “sniper” probe will attempt a lunar landing on Saturday, is one of many countries and private companies launching new missions to the moon. It is a feat so far only achieved by four nations\u2014the United States, the Soviet Union, China and most recently India\u2014with spacecraft often losing communication …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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