Space

India limbers up for space race as prime minister asks for the moon

Shuttle astronaut inspires New Delhi to challenge China's lofty ambitions

It is more than thirty years since the American astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt wandered around the surface of the moon, scooped up several large chunks of rock and flew home. Since their last epic Apollo mission in December 1972, no one has been back.

But if India's prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has his way, the next astronaut to leave footprints on the moon's ghostly cratered surface could well be Indian.

Earlier this month, Mr Vajpayee told a stunned science conference in Bombay it was time for India to achieve its dream of putting a man on the moon.

"Our scientists are now talking of sending a man into space. It is time to make our dreams come true," he said. Now India's national research space agency has unveiled an ambitious plan to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon by 2007.

The 350kg probe would map a previously obscure part of the moon's surface and collect data. The orbiting craft might even answer one of the solar system's trickier questions: did the moon originally break off the earth, or was it pulled into the earth's orbit from elsewhere?

Although Indian scientists admit a lunar landing is at least a decade away, they are now actively contemplating the previously unthinkable: to boldly go where only the United States has been before, not very recently.

But critics have questioned why India - where almost half of the billion-plus population lives in dire poverty - is spending millions of pounds on space exploration. The historic Apollo and Soviet Luna missions have already brought back 382kg of moon rock. There isn't much left to discover, they argue. The money could be better spent on cheaper space technologies, like satellite launches, or on something completely different, such as Aids prevention.

"It's the stupidest thing to do," said HS Mukunda, the chairman of the Indian institute of science. "What others did 30 years ago, we are trying to do now. It won't bring the country any technical benefit."

India's interest in space travel began modestly in the early 1960s, when scientists launched a small rocket above the jungles of Kerala. The architect of India's space programme, Vikram Sarabhai, argued that there was nothing wrong with developing countries exploring space, so long as the technology helped to solve the problems of those stuck behind on earth.

Since then, New Delhi has developed increasingly sophisticated rockets. Five months ago, India launched its first weather satellite from the humid southern city of Madras.

Enthusiasts for India's space programme say it has brought huge benefits for telecommunications and weather forecasting, and costs virtually nothing compared to the whopping £8bn which India spends on defence.

"We run our space programme on a shoestring," said Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, the chairman of India's space research organisation. "We spend around $450-$500m [£275-£300m]. I don't think it's much when you consider the benefits we are able to reap."

Going to the moon was a "long-term investment", Dr Kasturirangan said. "There has been a recent revival of interest in the moon. There are still scientific questions that need to be answered."

The front pages of Indian newspapers have been covered with photos of an Indian-born woman who is already in space: Kalpana Chawla.

Ms Chawla, who was born in India but moved to the US, where she took a doctorate in aerospace engineering, blasted off last week as one of seven astronauts, including an Israeli pilot, aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

Her two-week mission has invigorated India's budding space programme and prompted the question: could India put someone on the moon? The subject has preoccupied India's elderly prime minister for some time.

"I met the prime minister about a month ago during Indian science week," Dr Kasturirangan said yesterday. "We only had a few minutes together. But he said to me, 'What about a man on the moon? What do you think about it?"'

"I told him we would have to look at a long-term perspective. Nothing is impossible for us. The question is political commitment and resources."

India's plan to put someone on the moon is partly inspired by old-fashioned rivalry; not with Pakistan, India's traditional enemy, but with China.

In the second half of this year, Beijing plans to blast an astronaut into orbit, becoming only the third country to do so.

Its Shenzhou-IV unmanned spacecraft returned to inner Mongolia earlier this month, having spent almost a week orbiting the earth. President Jiang Zemin had hailed the successful launch of the craft as a "great victory".

China has even come up with a new name for its would-be astronauts: "taikonauts", from the Chinese word for space.

China's achievements and India's determination point to the possibility of a new space race, reminiscent of the lunar rivalry in the 1960s between the Soviet Union and the US.

There is a military dimension too: India's new satellite launch vehicle is almost certainly capable of putting a spy satellite above Pakistan.

Mr Vajpayee, meanwhile, who presided over India's nuclear tests in 1998, has shown a growing fascination with the moon. Earlier this month he recited an ancient Hindi lullaby about the moon's splendour to an audience in Bombay. "The moon will descend only through science, and not through wishes alone," he told them.

The Indian prime minister realises that sending an Indian to the moon would undoubtedly be a patriotic coup for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. He may not be around to see it, though. Aged 78, Mr Vajpayee is nearing the end of his political career.

Increasingly, he appears to be reflecting on his legacy; and peering up towards the stars. "He is very interested in these things," Dr Kasturirangan said. "He is obviously looking well ahead."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaKuTnrKvr8RoaWloY2S3orqObGdoq6CWsKax16mjqKqRqbawuo2rnKydkaewqQ%3D%3D