MUMBAI: If China lands astronauts on the moon prior to the US, it will be a shame to America, said Jaydeep Mukherjee, an ex-Xavierite, and currently director of Nasa Florida Space Grant Consortium. Mukherjee made this statement during a presentation titled ‘Humanity’s Return To The Moon’, at Nehru Planetarium at Worli, Mumbai, Saturday evening.
On Oct 29, the China Manned Space Agency announced the 2030 target for the crewed lunar landing mission, and on Sept 28 unveiled the space suits to be worn by astronauts on the moon.
He said that a Chinese landing on the moon before the US would help to enhance funding for the American manned lunar programme.
The Consortium, formed in 1989, augments Nasa’s educational outcomes and is administered through the University of Central Florida and the Florida Space Institute. He did not mince words when he told the audience that if certain technical issues and cost overruns were not solved, Nasa’s target of a manned lunar landing by the Artemis 3 mission in 2026 would slip.
The technical issues related to the Artemis-1 mission, Nasa’s unmanned flight to the moon, launched on Nov 16, 2022. During the high-speed re-entry on Dec 11, 2022, at 25,000 mph, the spacecraft’s heatshield suffered an unexpected damage and Nasa is still trying to solve the problem.
As if this were not enough, Nasa’s deep space network at Goldstone in California lost contact with the spacecraft for four hours on Nov 23, 2022. In addition, during lift-off of Artemis-1, the launch pad itself got damaged and blew away the elevator doors. According to Mukherjee, the cost of repairing them is exorbitant. A report of Nasa’s Office of Inspector General Office of Audits says: ‘the Artemis programme faces, schedule, procurement, technical and funding risks’.
