Almost half of Moon missions fail. Why is space still so hard?

Almost half of Moon missions fail. Why is space still so hard?

Subject: Science and technology

Section: Space technology

Context:

• The Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully touching down near the south pole of Earth’s rocky neighbour.

An exclusive club:

• The Moon is the only celestial location humans have visited so far.
• Only four countries have achieved successful “soft landings” – landings in which the spacecraft survives – on the lunar surface.

1. The USSR (Luna-9 mission, February 1966),
2. The USA (Survayor-1 mission, June 1966),
3. China (Chang’e 3 mission, 2013) and
4. India (Chandrayaan-3 mission, 2023).

• Missions from Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Russia, the European Space Agency, Luxembourg, South Korea and Italy have also had some measure of lunar success with fly-bys, orbiters and impacts.

Crashes are not uncommon:

• Communication with the Luna 25 spacecraft was interrupted on 19 August 2023.
• In April 2019, the Israeli Beresheet lander crash-landed after a gyroscope failed during the braking procedure, and the ground control crew was unable to reset the component due to a loss of communications.
• In September 2019, India sent its own Vikram lander down to the surface of the Moon – but it did not survive the landing.

Despite challenges, why ISRO chose the south pole for soft-landing?

• There is strong evidence that the lunar south pole has the presence of ice molecules in it.
  • The ancient water ice present could also provide a record of lunar volcanoes and origins of oceans.
  • The water, if it exists in sufficient quantities, could be a source of drinking water for explorers and keep equipment cool.
  • The water could be broken down to produce hydrogen and oxygen, which would be monumental in space exploration missions and Mars missions.
• Moreover, the south pole could hold volatiles such as ammonia and methane.
• This extremely-cold – in fact, frozen – region could have potentially preserved clues to the earlier days of the Solar System.

Space is still risky:

• Just over 50% of lunar missions succeed.
• Even small satellite missions to Earth’s orbit don’t have a perfect track record, with a success rate somewhere between 40% and 70%.
• Crewed missions are more successful (around 98% success rate). Due to:
  • Ground staff working to support a crewed mission will be more focused,
  • Management will invest more resources, and
  • Delays will be accepted to prioritise the safety of the crew.

Challenges in space travel:

• Better radiation shielding
• Self-sustaining ecosystems
• Autonomous robots
• Extracting air and water from raw resources, and
• Zero-gravity manufacturing.
• Faster-than-light travel,
• Instantaneous communication, and
• Artificial gravity.