India is about to launch its first (unmanned) moon mission:
The launch will put India into an Asian space race, which last year saw Japan and China launch lunar orbiters. Sites in those countries are regularly used for launching commercial satellites.The Chandrayaan-1 mission is the Indian Space and Research Organization’s first attempt to propel a spacecraft beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, although India has been launching suborbital satellites since 1975. About 1,000 scientists and engineers have worked on the lunar project for four years.
The $80 million two-year mission — during which the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is expected to orbit about 60 miles from the lunar surface — will conduct a series of experiments on the moon’s mineral, geological and chemical characteristics, as well as searching for evidence of water on the lunar surface.
Why exactly is India spending $80 million on a lunar orbiter? That’s not so clear:
The lunar mission is strongly supported by India’s Congress-led government and even the country’s nationalistic leftist party leaders. “Opposing the mission would be demoralizing for our scientific community,” says Atul Kumar Anjaan, national secretary of the Communist Party of India. “Such projects are a national pride and involve years of innovation.”