Is the Space Race Worth It?

The Space Race has hit the headlines again recently with India's moon programme under the spotlight, having discovered water on the moon. But is the race a help or a hindrance to space travel?

The 1960s saw a Space Race between Russia and the USA in the context of the Cold War, culminating in the Apollo moon landings and impressive scientific advances, from food sterilisation techniques and stay-dry clothing to aerospace engineering and electronic communication. The new Space Race involves not only the US and Russia, but also China, India, Japan and possibly Iran.

India's Chandrayaan-1 (the Sanskrit word for ‘Moon Craft’) was launched on October 22nd 2008 for a planned two year mission to carry out high resolution mapping of the moon as well as remote sensing of various minerals and elemental chemical species. It was actually Nasa'a onboard Moon Mineralogy Mapper which detected the presence of water molecules on the moon, leading to speculation that it would be possible to grow vegetation there, maybe with a view to establishing a moon base. The probe has since prematurely ceased transmitting information, having accomplished nearly 95 percent of its goals.

These discoveries have led to Nasa's recent announcement that it will send a probe to crash into the moon's surface in order to analyse the dust kicked up for further evidence of water, but it is the Chinese who are most likely to send the next manned mission to the earth's natural satellite. Having sent a man into space in 2003, China is preparing to launch orbiters and, perhaps, a lunar rover, but any further plans are shrouded in secrecy. Meanwhile India is planning to launch Chandrayaan-2 which will attempt to land a moon rover to analyse the surface further.

The question to be asked as these established and emerging superpowers invest huge quantities of money into their, largely independent, research programmes is: Does a Space Race benefit global technology, or would it be much more productive if the money and research efforts were pooled for a global attempt at space exploration? Would it not be possible to get past the one-upmanship between these proud nations and work for the benefit of the human race as a whole?

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