‘A lot is going wrong at the moment’: Why so many people want to go to the moon and often don’t succeed

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Hardly anyone wanted to go to the moon for a long time. These times are over, recently there was heavy traffic on and around the Earth’s satellite again. Japan wants to become the fifth country to land a probe there on Friday.

These efforts involve significant risks; time and time again, space players are cut back on the moon. Only at the beginning of last week did the American company Astrobotic fail to land the lander ‘Peregrine’ on the moon. It would have been the first private landing ever. The start still worked, but afterwards there were problems with the propulsion system.

Parallels between contemporary lunar space exploration and astronomy in the early Middle Ages

While in the late 1960s and early 1970s the American space agency NASA achieved one moon landing after another and the Soviet Union also succeeded in maneuvers, missions currently go wrong again and again. But why is this the case when technology and computers are more modern worlds today?

Ulrich Walter, professor of space technology at the Technical University of Munich and former astronaut, sees parallels between contemporary lunar space exploration and astronomy in the early Middle Ages. At that time, astroscience had to start all over again, because the advanced knowledge of the ancient Greeks had simply not been passed on.

The experiences of the successful moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s have also been partly lost. The researchers and engineers involved at the time are now very old or dead and can no longer contribute their knowledge. “Nowadays we are practically starting from scratch.”

“Of course a lot is going wrong at the moment.”

Walter also sees one reason for the many failed attempts in the fact that the lunar modules are now equipped with much more software than before. This does have advantages, as flight maneuvers can be adjusted spontaneously. On the other hand, software is also prone to errors. “I estimate that about half of the failed moon landings in recent years were due to faulty software,” says Walter. As examples he mentions the failed attempt by the Japanese company Ispace in April and the Russian probe ‘Luna-25’ that crashed into the moon in August.

Martin Tajmar, an expert in space technology at TU Dresden, is hardly surprised by the many failed attempts in recent years. “Of course a lot is going wrong at the moment. But that was also to be expected.” Landing on the moon is much more complex than launching a satellite into orbit.

“You have to test a lot”

Tajmar knows what makes a moon landing so difficult: no GPS signals to navigate the plane, low gravity, no braking atmosphere, delayed radio signals from Earth, an uneven surface and possible damage to the lander from blown moon dust.

“You have to test a lot,” says Tajmar. But it is difficult, for example, to simulate weightlessness on Earth. Sometimes it’s easier to try things in real life, fail, and use the data you get to improve the process.

China and India in particular have benefited from the fact that they have been continuously developing their space travel for decades, says former astronaut Walter. The People’s Republic made its first successful landing in 37 years in 2013, followed by two more. Last August, India became the fourth country in the world to land on the moon after a failed attempt.

NASA wants to put people on the moon again after more than fifty years

Japan wants to become the fifth country on Friday. The SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lander, developed by the Japanese space agency Jaxa, will then test a technology for precise landings and land on the moon less than 100 meters from the intended landing site.

Japan hopes that a successful SLIM precision landing will herald the transition from an era of ‘land where we can’ to an era of ‘land where we want’. The data collected on the moon will be used as part of the US-led Artemis program.

With this program, NASA wants to return people to the moon after more than 50 years, but last week the moon landing mission ‘Artemis 3’ was postponed until September 2026.

“The Chinese have a very strict timetable”

Walter sees a competitive situation developing between several countries. China in particular is putting pressure on NASA. “The Americans cannot afford the shame of putting people on the moon after China.”

Space expert Tajmar says: “The Chinese have a very strict timetable.” According to government plans, the Chinese should be on the moon by 2030 – given major delays in the ‘Artemis’ program, it is not inconceivable that they will walk there before the first new American moonwalkers. However, the Americans have the very successful space company SpaceX as a kind of trump card, says Tajmar. “I suspect that Americans will be the first to put men on the moon.”

Private flights to the moon

But why is the moon such a popular destination? “Right now it’s kind of a sandbox game based on the motto ‘Who has the biggest shovel?’” says Tajmar. However, economic incentives are already in place, especially for private companies. Ultimately, major state space agencies will want to purchase their services. Both the failed Peregrine mission and the launch of the private lander Nova-C, scheduled for mid-February, were part of NASA’s so-called CLPS program. The goal is for private companies to offer transport flights to the moon.

Initially, activity on the moon will be driven by research, Tajmar thinks. For example, this could be an observatory on the side facing away from Earth. The moon won’t make economic sense for decades. For example, you could make money from helium-3 found on the moon for fusion power plants: “That could be a big market at some point.” (SDA)

Source: Blick