Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Asia ascendant: On the new Space Race

Asia ascendant: On the new Space Race

After Japan’s partially successful moon-landing, the new Space Race (the competition between countries with regard to achievements in the area of space study and investigation) has Asian countries in the lead

On January 19, the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) (it is a small-scale exploration lander designed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for pinpoint landings on the Moon’s surface, reduction in the size and weight of equipment used in Moon landings, and investigation into the Moon’s origins. Its nickname is “moon sniper”) spacecraft (अंतरिक्ष यान) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), launched in September, was expected to soft-land ((of a spacecraft) to land on the moon or a planet without any damage/destruction incurred to the vehicle) on the moon. Shortly after the stipulated (prescribed, fixed, specified, defined, required) time, reports from JAXA indicated the lander (a spacecraft designed to land on the surface of a planet/moon. A lander is immobile, and maintains its fixed position once it has landed) had touched down but its solar panels were not producing power, forcing the craft to bank on (depend on, rely on; resort to, have recourse to) its batteries. However, SLIM, it said, appeared to be transmitting data, and checks of its other components did not indicate any damage — meaning Japan had become the fifth country to soft-land a robotic spacecraft on the moon. SLIM, like Chandrayaan-3 (Chandrayaan-3 is the third lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1 (launched on October 22, 2008) & Chandrayaan-2 (launched on 22 July 2019). Chandrayaan-3 is to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It was launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota on July 14, 2023. The Chandrayaan-3 has reached the lunar orbit almost a month after its launch, and its lander, Vikram, and rover, Pragyaan, were landed on the Moon on August 23. Notably, the landing site of the latest mission is more or less the same as the Chandrayaan-2: near the south pole of the moon at 70 degrees latitude), was tasked with (assign a task to) a lunar soft-landing (a landing by a spacecraft on the moon or a planet without any damage/destruction incurred to the vehicle) and deploying (तैनात करना) a rover (a space exploration vehicle designed to move and explore the surface of a planet or moon. A rover is mobile, and has wheels with which it can move) mission (with two small rovers) but its primary mission (उद्देश्य, लक्ष्य) was pioneering (अग्रणी). Thus far, interplanetary (between planets) spacecraft to the moon and Mars have been assigned suitable landing areas several hundred metres wide. SLIM however was designed to land within a 100 sq. m area, and thus its nickname “moon sniper”. In a press conference in which they confirmed the controlled descent (an act of moving downwards; going down, coming down; landing), JAXA officials also said it could be a month before they could ascertain (पता लगाना, जांचना) if SLIM had successfully executed its pinpoint (precise, accurate, correct, inch-perfect) landing.

SLIM’s partial success (for now) comes a day after a moon-landing (lunar landing; it is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon) mission built by Astrobotic (the Moon company (a private U.S. company, and funded by NASA) specializes in making space missions feasible and more affordable for science, exploration, and commerce. And they think the Moon is a great place to start. As a lunar logistics company, they provide end-to-end delivery services for payloads to the Moon), a private U.S. company, and funded by NASA, reentered the earth’s atmosphere following a propellant leak. SLIM also happened roughly a month ahead of a landing attempt by another American company and four ahead of China’s ambitious (महत्वाकांक्षी) sample-return mission from the moon’s far-side. JAXA’s lessons from SLIM are expected to inform the planned Lunar Polar Exploration Mission, an India-Japan collaboration with India expected to provide the lander. Precision landing is valuable because it allows lunar missions to begin closer to a place of interest, where there may be a smaller patch suitable for landing, instead of landing further away and roving to the area. And the moon’s surface around its south pole is mostly rough terrain (land, territory). There are now five countries with the demonstrated ability to land robotic spacecraft on the moon. These plus the European Space Agency (यूरोपीय अंतरिक्ष एजेंसी) are the world’s major spacefaring (अंतरिक्ष यात्रा) entities. No other such entity (संस्था, स्थिति) has a robotic lunar mission planned in the near future. Both the U.S. and Russia also last demonstrated their abilities in a bygone (past, out of date, outmoded, old-fashioned, old, outdated) era, although the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (NASA is working with several American companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. These companies of varying sizes will bid on delivering payloads for NASA, including payload integration and operations, launching from Earth and landing on the surface of the Moon) programme will be making frequent attempts, as with the Astrobotic mission. As such, the new Space Race is currently being led by Asian countries.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.ascendant (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - प्रबल, आरोहत्
English Meaning - on the rise, prospering, flourishing, developing, rising (in power), up-and-coming, increasing, growing.

2.spacecraft (noun)

Hindi Meaning - अंतरिक्ष यान
English Meaning - a vehicle or machine designed to fly/travel in outer space (i.e. outside the earth’s atmosphere).

3.deploy (verb)

Hindi Meaning - तैनात करना
English Meaning - employ/bring into effective action; bring into service; have recourse to; use, utilize, employ, make use of, take advantage of.

4.mission (noun)

Hindi Meaning - उद्देश्य, लक्ष्य
English Meaning - an expedition (journey) into space.

5.pioneering (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - अग्रणी
English Meaning - path-breaking; innovative.

6.ascertain (verb)

Hindi Meaning - पता लगाना, जांचना
English Meaning - find out, understand, recognize, get to know.

7.ambitious (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - महत्वाकांक्षी
English Meaning - formidable, difficult, challenging, demanding.

8.European Space Agency (noun)

Hindi Meaning - यूरोपीय अंतरिक्ष एजेंसी
English Meaning - an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris.

9.spacefaring (noun)

Hindi Meaning - अंतरिक्ष यात्रा
English Meaning - space travel.

10.entity (noun)

Hindi Meaning - संस्था, स्थिति
English Meaning - organization, institution, body, establishment, outfit.

11.space race (noun)

English Meaning - the competition between countries with regard to achievements in the area of space study and investigation.

12.moon-landing (noun)

English Meaning - lunar landing; it is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon.

13.in the lead (phrase)

English Meaning - winning in a race/competition.

14.Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) (noun)

English Meaning - it is a small-scale exploration lander designed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for pinpoint landings on the Moon’s surface, reduction in the size and weight of equipment used in Moon landings, and investigation into the Moon’s origins. Its nickname is “moon sniper”.

15.soft-land (verb)

English Meaning - (of a spacecraft) to land on the moon or a planet without any damage/destruction incurred to the vehicle.

16.soft-landing (noun)

English Meaning - a landing by a spacecraft on the moon or a planet without any damage/destruction incurred to the vehicle.

17.stipulated (adjective)

English Meaning - prescribed, fixed, specified, defined, required.

18.lander (noun)

English Meaning - a spacecraft designed to land on the surface of a planet/moon. A lander is immobile, and maintains its fixed position once it has landed.

19.touch down (phrasal verb)

English Meaning - (of an aircraft/spacecraft) land, alight, descend, come down.

20.craft (noun)

English Meaning - spacecraft.

21.bank on (phrasal verb)

English Meaning - depend on, rely on; resort to, have recourse to.

22.Chandrayaan-3 (noun)

English Meaning - Chandrayaan-3 is the third lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1 (launched on October 22, 2008) & Chandrayaan-2 (launched on 22 July 2019). Chandrayaan-3 is to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It was launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota on July 14, 2023. The Chandrayaan-3 has reached the lunar orbit almost a month after its launch, and its lander, Vikram, and rover, Pragyaan, were landed on the Moon on August 23. Notably, the landing site of the latest mission is more or less the same as the Chandrayaan-2: near the south pole of the moon at 70 degrees latitude.

23.task with (verb)

English Meaning - assign a task to.

24.rover (noun)

English Meaning - a space exploration vehicle designed to move and explore the surface of a planet or moon. A rover is mobile, and has wheels with which it can move.

25.interplanetary (adjective)

English Meaning - between planets.

26.descent (noun)

English Meaning - an act of moving downwards; going down, coming down; landing.

27.pinpoint (adjective)

English Meaning - precise, accurate, correct, inch-perfect.

28.Astrobotic (noun)

English Meaning - the Moon company (a private U.S. company, and funded by NASA) specializes in making space missions feasible and more affordable for science, exploration, and commerce. And they think the Moon is a great place to start. As a lunar logistics company, they provide end-to-end delivery services for payloads to the Moon.

29.propellant (noun)

English Meaning - a substance (ex: fuel in a rocket engine) that is used for providing thrust/momentum/motive force/impetus.

30.Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) (noun)

English Meaning - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was designated as a core performance agency to support the Japanese government’s overall aerospace development and utilization.

31.Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission (noun)

English Meaning - The Indo-Japanese Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission is envisaged to explore the permanently shadowed regions or the dark side of the moon. The main objective of the mission is to confirm the presence of water in the polar regions of the moon.

32.rove (verb)

English Meaning - wander over(or) travel through with a specific destination.

33.terrain (noun)

English Meaning - land, territory.

34.bygone (adjective)

English Meaning - past, out of date, outmoded, old-fashioned, old, outdated.

35.Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) (noun)

English Meaning - NASA is working with several American companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. These companies of varying sizes will bid on delivering payloads for NASA, including payload integration and operations, launching from Earth and landing on the surface of the Moon.