30 years after man left the moon, Asian countries are asking to return to it. China promises to send a man into space in two months, India in five years. The European Union also has grandiose plans. In response, the US plans to land the first man on Mars. Everything is political
Lior Kodner, Haaretz, voila!
On July 20, 1969, the American spacecraft "Apollo" 11 landed in the "Sea of Tranquility" crater on the surface of the moon. In doing so, the US was the first power to land a man on the Earth's only natural satellite. The high-profile landing, in front of millions live, ended a decade of fierce competition between Washington and Moscow, after the launch of Yuri Gagarin into space in 61. The White House won the prestigious battle of the century, but the magic of Apollo had already expired after three years. On December 19, 72, in front of the television cameras, Eugene Gernan, the last of the 12 Americans who visited the moon, said goodbye to the star, with the words: "Here man has finished his first series of trips to explore the moon."
Since then we have not set foot on the moon. For the next three decades, the American space agency (NASA) focused on launching satellites, research spacecraft, space shuttles and telescopes. The space agency of the Soviet Union was mainly involved in the development of the Mir space station. The American victory in the battle for the moon, together with the end of the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the freezing of the flow of funds to the Russian space program, succeeded in cooling the space race. No more.
In recent months, the arena is heating up once again. The main factor is the joining of four new players in the space race, which today focuses on two main foci, the moon and Mars. The countries of the European Union focus their efforts in the field of satellites but at the same time insist on sending research missions to Mars, while the new Asian players - China and India - speak openly about their desire to send citizens to the moon. Russia, for its part, presents an ambitious plan to send humans to Mars. Washington, still recovering from the Columbia space shuttle disaster, is therefore forced to show muscle to justify NASA's huge budgets and is also gearing up for Mars.
Why is the space race renewed now? The scientific reason is the study of water and extraterrestrial life, but the real reason is probably political. Europe, Russia, China, India and also Japan seek to achieve international recognition and a prestigious achievement. NASA, for its part, is looking for the next big challenge. "When NASA, or a new American president, are looking for a big challenge to engage the nation in, they always think of Mars," says Prof. Avishai Dekel, an astrophysicist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "In the case of a flight to Mars, it is easy to show where the big money is directed, as they did with the first manned flight to the moon. There is no great scientific challenge here, but there is a very great political achievement. Here, we succeeded for the first time in landing a person on another planet in the solar system."
The mission: Mars
About two months ago, the foreign ministers of the 15 member states of the European Union's space agency met in Paris. The participants agreed to direct considerable budgets to the Union's space agency. The meaning of these things, in a less diplomatic language, is disconnection from NASA.
The most difficult prestigious blow that Europe inflicted on the USA concerns the field of satellites. The European Space Agency is currently developing an array of satellites to compete with the US GPS array. The GPS system allows every person on the planet to know their exact location, using a reception device that bases its ability on crossing information between the satellites. The Europeans promise to launch 30 satellites into space in the coming years, at a cost of about five billion euros, and promise that the system will be much more accurate and cheaper than the American one. In addition to this, the Europeans want to quickly launch an all-terrain vehicle to the moon - the first mission to explore the closest object to us on behalf of the EU countries.
The entry of the European Union countries into the space race stems from their ambition to develop political, economic and technological independence. Europe seeks to become a space power as part of a power and prestige struggle against America - everything the US can do, they say in Brussels and Paris, we can do too.
The second battleground between the states of the Union and the USA is Mars. Last month, the European Space Agency launched a rover to the planet, with the aim of finding out if life exists on the Red Planet. No one expects to find small green creatures on Mars, the search is mainly for primitive life forms that managed to survive the harsh conditions of life on the surface of the planet.
Mars (Mars) is the fourth planet in the solar system. The red star orbits the sun for 687 days and rotates on its axis once every 24 hours, 37 minutes and 23 seconds. The atmosphere of Mars consists of 95% carbon dioxide (compared to a fraction of a percent on Earth) and its climate is mainly desert. Meanwhile, satellite photographs published in recent years have shown the presence of water sources on the surface of the planet.
A study published this year in the USA indicated that snow that fell on Mars millions of years ago caused the formation of the flowing water reservoirs. According to the researchers, the snow accumulated at both poles of Mars and when the sun's rays heated the surface of the planet, an effect similar to the greenhouse effect was created inside the snow-covered trenches. These findings may imply the existence of primitive life forms on the surface of Mars.
This is the main reason for the importance that scientists attach to the continued study of the star. The possibility that life also originated outside the Earth is accepted today by most cosmologists. Astrophysicists estimate that millions of solar systems similar to our own have formed throughout the universe, and there is a high probability of life forming at least on some of these stars. However, radio signal analysis, carried out in various parts of the world with the aim of discovering evidence of the aliens' existence, has so far turned up nothing. And an American study published this month stated that no evidence of the existence of limestone was found on the surface of Mars, meaning that water did not flow over the surface of the planet (although it is possible that there is frozen ice on the bottom, which should not form limestone by a chemical reaction with carbon dioxide). Be that as it may, scientists from all over the world do not give up and keep trying.
The American answer
In response to the European effort, the USA is also focusing on Mars. Two American spacecraft are on their way to the planet, and it seems that Europe and the USA are competing with each other to find the most important scientific discovery on the planet.
NASA still hopes to beat the competitors in a knockout. Last year US President George Bush announced that his country would land the first man on Mars by the end of the decade. Similar to John F. Kennedy, who marked the moon as a target eight years before his conquest, Bush wants to indicate the course he designates for the American space program.
The plans presented by Bush have been postponed in the meantime due to the cessation of manned flights into space following the Columbia disaster, but Washington estimates that the mission can be carried out by . 2015 "When I landed on the moon for the last time in 72, I said that I was sure that we would return to the moon and that we would also be able to land on Mars by the end of the century," astronaut Jernan said after the Columbia disaster in an interview with the ABC network. The vision of the last man to walk on the moon did not come true, but he is still optimistic. "I think we have to look at the glass half full, not the half empty," he added. "In my opinion, the first astronauts to land on Mars are studying in elementary school today."
If until now it seemed that a manned landing on Mars was a challenge that only the Americans could meet, in recent months a new-old player has returned to the field. At the end of a long absence, Russia wants to return to the race. For the past year, the space engineers of Moscow have been promoting an ambitious plan according to which, according to the managers of the Russian space agency, "the first man will be able to land on Mars by 2014".
Because of the huge costs, Russia wants to lead an international operation at the end of which a delegation of astronauts from different countries will land on the Red Planet. "There must be extensive cooperation, no country will be able to handle a program of this magnitude on its own," explains Vitaly Simeonov, director of the Mars program in Moscow. The European Space Agency has also expressed willingness to participate in the project, but according to its leaders, given the complexity of the operation, man will not be able to land on Mars before 2020.
The heads of the Russian space agency continue to radiate optimism and are encouraged by the media coverage of their program. With the memory of the defeat it suffered in the race to the moon, Moscow wants the conquest of Mars to be completely different. "In terms of engineering, the Apollo program was indeed an impressive achievement," admits one of the engineers of the Soviet space program, Konstantin Fukchitov. "But what was the result? They returned with several hundred kilograms of stones. We have not obtained any detail information about the origin of the moon. Americans wasted $25 billion on luxury. For $25 billion they could have done something more interesting."
Criticism of Washington's space program is now also coming from home. Philip Chapman, who participated as an astronaut in the Apollo 14 mission, attacked his former managers about two months ago. According to him, failed management and a wrong conception, according to which the public only expresses interest in grandiose missions with high investment, caused a stagnation and even a retreat in humanity's race to space.
In an article he published on the "SpaceDaily" website, Chapman wrote that man's ability to reach space is less today compared to the 70s: In 1969, we landed on the moon. Today we have no actual ability to take humans beyond low orbit around the Earth." According to the astronaut, the US investment in a cumbersome shuttle and the International Space Station is a huge waste of resources.
Despite the criticism, Washington wants to present the Mars program as an important super project for the advancement of humanity. "Mars has indeed become a very interesting destination in recent years," says Avi Har-Evan, director of the Israel Space Agency. "One of the reasons for this is that the race to Mars justifies a large financial investment. The average American always asks himself why he should invest in space when he is unemployed, the environment is messed up and the roads are congested. Therefore, to convince people why the field of space is so important to them, NASA began to invest a lot of money in marketing. The final result is already clear today, whoever succeeds in landing the first man on Mars will become a space power."
According to one estimate, the total cost of flying a manned expedition to Mars reaches the imaginary sum of 400 billion dollars. But besides the hundreds of billions of dollars, the distance between Earth and Mars is also a decisive factor: the estimated duration of the trip to Mars is eight months (one way). "When you pack things for a trip to Mars, you have to take everything you need. It is not possible to send regular supplies like to the Mir space station, or to get home within a day or two like from the moon," Jernan estimates. "Once you set off, there won't be enough fuel to return and the supplies won't be able to reach the spaceship. There is no way back for an astronaut who does not get along with the rest of the crew, and there is also no possibility of direct communication with Earth. An astronaut who commits to a trip to Mars will commit to staying two or three years away from home with nothing, only with the people you date."
Despite the expenses, the dangers and the close competition, NASA is confident of victory in the Mars sector. "In less than 20 years we will begin to rewrite history and not focus only on the achievements of the past", estimated already three years ago the former director of NASA, Daniel Goldin. "We must get used to the thought that in our lifetime humans will be able to visit other stars in the solar system. Then we will be able to build robots that will go to the stars that are far from our solar system, and eventually humans will follow them there."
to the moon through China and India
The second battlefield that has been heating up in recent months is the moon. The desire to return to the planet stems from the scientific developments recorded since the last human landing, but also because of the desire of Asian countries to enter the history of space. The American astronauts were the first to land on the moon, then the Russian cosmonauts joined them, now the Chinese "taikonauts" also want to repeat the feat.
The most serious threat to American hegemony indeed comes today from the direction of Beijing. At the beginning of the year, China announced that in October it would send its first astronauts into orbit around the Earth in the Shenzhou spacecraft. By 2010, China promises to send its first representative to the moon. A tone of disdain for the Americans was also added to the adventurous dimension blowing from the direction of Beijing. "We don't intend to be content with planting a red flag and collecting stones," the managers of the Shenzo program announced. "In science, there is only number one, there is no number two," the head of the program, Zhang Huying, emphasized in media interviews. "We want to lead the contribution to the human race."
Foreign experts estimate that China annually invests between 1.3 and 3 billion dollars in its space program. This is an amount that is barely a fifth of NASA's budget (about 13 billion dollars), but unlike the Americans who spread the money among many space programs, most of the Chinese's efforts are directed to the planned launch.
The Chinese space program is the responsibility of the military, therefore all taikonauts selected for the program were former fighter pilots. The few details published in the Chinese media about the pilots are that their average age is 30, their average weight is 65 kg and their height is 1.70 meters. According to space industry expert Su Shuangning, quoted in the official media, all candidates are "of suitable medium height, quick to move and not afraid of difficulties. That's why China's astronauts are definitely the best."
The new race to the moon was caused only by reasons of prestige, Har-Evan explains. "A country that says it can send a man to the moon indicates technological prowess, and this has implications for everything. The entire technological level of the country is increasing, so China can stand on the same technological level as the developed countries, the USA or European countries."
Another country that wants to become a leader in space is India. After his country succeeded in launching satellites into space, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced a month ago that "India is ready to make the great leap forward in the field of science." New Delhi's space program has made extraordinary progress in recent years, added the prime minister, "Our dream of sending a man to the moon is going to come true by 2008."
Despite the Indian statements, Western scientists doubt India's ability - and desire - to land a man on the moon. The cost of developing a relatively modest space program, the Indians estimated, may amount to about 80 million dollars, a considerable sum for a poor country. It is possible that the latest statements are just another expression of the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan, which culminated in the development of nuclear weapons in New Delhi and Islamabad. The intentions of rival neighbor China also apparently led to Vajpayee's statement. "We have to admit that there is fierce competition between India and China as well," Israeli and American space experts agree. "So if the Chinese say they are able to land on the moon and return safely to Earth, why shouldn't the Indians do the same?"
There is another Asian country that, according to the heads of space agencies, is capable of sending a man to the moon, but for the time being, Japan does not reveal any intentions in this area. In Tokyo there was talk in the past about the possibility of a manned launch to the moon, but recently Japan has been focusing on its satellite program.
Why with people?
The big question is whether there is a scientific necessity for the renewal of manned flights to the moon. Another human landing on the moon may put an end to conspiracy theories that the US staged the Apollo 11 landing at a studio in Hollywood. But is it worth spending billions of dollars on?
The contribution of the Apollo missions to the study of the moon has been almost zero until today. Rather, satellite photographs made by NASA helped much more. NASA photographs from 98 managed to discover water on the planet's surface, and in a study published in the US this year, based on a new analysis of satellite images, it became clear that the water reservoirs on the moon's surface are five times larger than researchers had estimated until now. On the other hand, given the fact that the studies regarding the presence of water on the moon were published only after the cessation of manned flights to the planet, it is clear that finding those water reservoirs is a real challenge and will certainly be the first task of the astronauts who are expected to return and land on the planet in the coming years.
Another mission that will await returnees to the moon arises from another study published recently in the US, a study that indicated that the craters on the surface of the moon may contain some of the ancient life forms that developed on Earth. According to the researchers, it is possible to find on the moon rock particles that were thrown from the earth following the collision of meteors and comets about four billion years ago. "Not only is the moon the best place for examining the first life forms on Earth, it is also the only place," said John Armstrong, a professor from the University of Washington who was one of the authors of the study, in an interview with the BBC. But are humans essential to accomplishing the task? "On the one hand, of course, you can be satisfied with robots," said Armstrong, "but on the other hand, humans can survey the surface of the moon and look for rock particles under the stones much better. I don't think it's necessary to send humans to the moon just to look for rocks that will tell something about our earth. But if we're going back to the moon anyway, then why don't we keep our eyes open for this issue as well?"
Even astronaut David Scott, who commanded the Apollo 15 mission in '71, admits that today machines can do most of the work. "Obviously you can make do with machines", he said, but commented that the machines "cannot feel the elation that humans feel when they fly into space".
His colleague Gernan claims that the manned flights should continue, along with the launch of all-terrain vehicles, not just for the mood. "The machines get their knowledge from the person. Man 'teaches' them to deal with different situations, but space is a place where even man does not know exactly how he should behave. Nothing can replace man's ability to think and deal with situations where no man has been before. Space exploration is not an option but a necessity. Curiosity is the essence of human existence."
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