I love the desi side of tumblr mainly because we're all on the SAME emotional spectrum. we're happy together and celebrate together but remember that we will also unleash the fiery pits of hell on you TOGETHER

the cutest thing to happen today was people calling to wish each other congratulations about the Chandrayaan 3 landing. like, Yes it is a festival and we should celebrate it as such!

You have previously mentioned, several times, holidays you created for yourself that you celebrate now instead of the holidays you were brought up celebrating. I respect it, I respect it. But as a person whose love language is giving gifts to the people I love based on their interests, I have to know... do any of these holidays you've created involve gift giving?

BILBO'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

It's a work in progress, so traditions are not set, but because it's actually celebrating both him and Frodo at the same time, and the hobbits are great party people, I figured it was a lovely way to add a celebration that includes the usual call for big festivities. So yes, big yummy meals, large gatherings, and exchanging gifts are all in order, possible dressing up and maybe a DND one shot are some things I've considered too, but of course any LOTR fan is welcome to create their own traditions around it in the spirit of all things Tolkien.

Current holidays so far:

March 15 - The Ides of March. Traditions include getting a tattoo and/or piercing in the event of "getting stabbed", buying Little Caesars pizza

June - Pride Month. Self explanatory.

June 19 - Juneteenth. I'm white and currently don't have any black friends to celebrate with; hopefully that changes. I either donate or support black owned businesses or charity foundations.

August 23 - Chandrayaan-3 Moon Landing Day. Yay space! But specifically landing on the dark side of the moon. Space themed activities encouraged. This is, of course, very new.

September 22 - Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. Food, friends, gifts, general geeky shit of the Jirt nature.

October 9 - Indigenous Peoples Day. Once again, I'm white, so there's not exactly any cultural traditions I've felt appropriate to take part in. I try either donating or supporting indigenous owned businesses or charity foundations. I typically will get something from Ioway Bee Farm.

October 31 - Halloween/Samhain. I mean, that's the accepted time of year. I personally just enjoy Halloween spirited things year round, but October especially is when I can get other people in on the bit. It's Espooky Gay Pride!

November 24 - Native American Heritage Day. Same as October 9th.

New Years Eve - Self explanatory.

This list will certainly be added to and edited in the future. The attitude behind creating these new traditions is to decolonize and de-Christianize the nature of my celebrations. I'm happy to share these with other people and encourage everyone to find a way to celebrate and commemorate life and their beliefs in a way that truly harmonizes with their ideals and their loved ones. If anything here doesn't jive with you, no worries! There's plenty of existing holidays, both religious and secular, to take part in, so long as they're done respectfully. Creating your own is one of the best things about life, IMO. No one can take that away from you.

I think in all my joy in witnessing a successful space mission undertaken by my country, India- I forgot to ask if this joy is available to all. On a tumblr post regarding chandrayaan, there had been a flippant comment by someone regarding what India is doing about lgbtq rights or women's rights or public healthcare ( it was slightly irritating- the tone of it all but, I don't think they meant bad ). While I am still of the opinion that it isn't really sincere to admonish people for expressing joy in their country's success regarding a space mission, that it helps no socio-economic cause in dismissing the hardwork of so many astrophysicists and other people, I am now on a personal level reflecting on whether my country isn't a touch more enthusiastic over certain STEM projects while not so much on others.

The comment on that post also said that this space mission is an exercise in show of power and of course, it is. One of the primary narratives that had been running in my mind in the giddiness of it all was how my country, which got colonized, did what no other country could do before ( land near the lunar south pole). So yes, it had the Politics, of "take that!" to the white west, a flex and a show power to her neighbours, because whatever else she is, India isn't humble and I have always felt there's a sense of competition going on. Also, I for a fact know that with the upcoming 2024 elections the current ruling party would try to spin ISRO's success in their favour. So of course everything in India comes down to politics.

In that vein, it is making me question at this moment if as a nation we are more concerned with keeping scores than we are of undoing the various knots over which we trip. Perhaps this is reflected in the projects undertaken by India. One of my former class mates had posted the following image when everyone of us were losing our minds over Chandrayaan:

I didn't make the connection then but now I am wondering: who is allowed the celebration? Two years or so ago I was watching a documentary on how caste still affects the lives in India and how still many people are bound in it in regards to the choices offered to them. We have yet to have a technology that can replace the manual cleaning of sewers and occupations such as these are still very much caste bound, forcefully so.

At that time I had heard of researchers trying to find out a way to solve this problem but I wonder would the funding of those projects be equivalent to what had been spared for space programs. In fact shouldn't projects like these have relatively more funding on principle, when we carry our caste with our name to this day and because it is a humane thing to do? Somehow the reality of answers that are coming up aren't really comforting.

I will always feel warm when I think about Chandrayaan3 and I don't think I will ever be able to bash my country for entering a space race. But yeah on a personal note perhaps this too will tingle in there.

So Mumbai is kinda cool. I have only seen a tiny bit. It has a population in the city itself of 12.5million and 23million in the wider city region.

The architecture is beautiful and you could spend most of your time looking up and taking it all in - which is mainly what I did. The railway station is truly stunning as are many of the other buildings - only some of which I do I know what they are. The Taj Palace Hotel was again amazing and a visit to the Gateway of India is a must.

There is a fair bit of interesting food with various influences from Arabia and further afield.

Mumbai is actually an island, in fact it was seven islands but has been fused together through land reclamation. The Portuguese were the first Europeans here, but the British arrived in 1661 and Mumbai (formerly Bombay) became an strategically important city and ultimately the centre of commerce and one of the world’s largest seaports.

Mumbai is also the beating heart of the Indian cinema industry, known as Bollywood, with many films being filmed here.

I don’t want to be accused of glossing over the poverty and inequality in India. Nothing in my previous posts have been designed to hide the ‘real’ situation in India, it is just a reflection of what I am doing whilst visiting.

I decided not to visit the slums in Mumbai, just like I didn’t visit them in South Africa or Brazil - all three places have offered slum tours. I do not think I am a voyeurist tourist - I know about the slums, we all know about the slums, I am far from convinced paying someone to show me around helps anyone really. Yes I get that some money will trickle down to those living there, but it won’t be much and there a probably other things I can do to help better.

You cannot get away from the poverty and inequalities though. Amongst the amazing architecture and beautiful temples there are homes that are beyond ramshackled and access to clean water and sanitation is lacking. There is rubbish, mainly plastic on the streets and you can also see it in fields and rivers as you travel by train.

India is mass of contradictions. India is currently the world’s 5th largest economy and aims to be the third in a few years - of course this is total and per capita (GDP in 2022 was around $3,400billion and per capita GDP was $2,389), having a massive population helps on this metric! India has a Space Programme and began the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission to explore the Moon as I entered the country.

Yet the poorest are incredibly poor. The Government (and I believe the previous Government) has prioritised growing the middle class and hope the poorest will also be lifted out of poverty. Sadly I think the trickle down effect is overrated and unless the Government really tackle poverty, life will get far worse for many.

PM tells students exams not everything, suggests technology free room in every home - education

A “technology free” room in homes, extra-curricular activities chosen on the basis of interest not glamour and realising that exams are not everything were some of the tips Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday offered students getting ready for exams. Reaching out to students across the country through the third edition of the “Pariksha Pe Charcha” programme at the Talkatora Stadium, the prime minister also told them not to get demotivated by temporary setbacks. Modi, who used examples from cricket, the Chandrayaan 2 mission and his own experiences, spoke on a range of issues, including exam stress and time management. He sought to speak to them in their own language and said his conversations with them will be “hashtag without filter”. In the event, telecast and streamed live, Modi said everyone should keep abreast of the latest technology but stressed that it should not be allowed to govern lives. “Technological trends are changing quickly. It is essential to stay updated with these trends. Fear of technology is not good. Technology is a friend. Mere knowledge of technology isn’t enough. Its application is as important,” he said. Modi also asked students not to become slaves of technology.“We should have the strength to keep technology under our control and ensure it does not waste our time. One room in our homes should be technology free. Whoever enters will not carry any gadgets,” he said. The prime minister appealed to students to not be demotivated if they face temporary setbacks and take failures in their stride. “We can add enthusiasm to every aspect of life. A temporary setback doesn’t mean success is not waiting. In fact, a setback may mean the best is yet to come. Motivation, demotivation are very common. Everyone goes through these feelings,” he said. “In this regard, I can never forget my visit to ISRO during Chandrayaan and the time spent with our hardworking scientists. I was told I shouldn’t attend Chandrayaan landing as there was no guarantee of success but I needed to be there,” he added, recalling the failed landing of the Chandrayaan-2 mission’s Vikram lander.The prime minister also asked students to remember the India-Australia test series in 2001 to emphasise his message about positive thinking. “Our cricket team was facing setbacks. The mood was not very good. But in those moments can we ever forget what Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman did? They turned the match around. Similarly, who can forget Anil Kumble bowling with an injury. This is the power of motivation and positive thinking,” he said. The prime minister asked students to spend their spare time with the elderly.“Good marks in exams are not everything. We have to come out of the thinking that exams are everything,” Modi said. The prime minister also highlighted the importance of taking on extra-curricular activities and said there is a growing tendency among parents to push their children into activities considered “glamorous”.“Parents should take time out to find out what their children want to do instead of pushing them into activities that are considered glamorous which they can discuss in their conversations with their friends. What is not good is when the passion of children becomes fashion statements for parents. Extra-curricular activities needn’t be glamour driven. Let each child pursue what he or she likes,” he said.“Not pursuing co-curricular activities can make a person like a robot. Yes, this will require better time management. Today, the opportunities are many and I hope youngsters make use of them.” Asserting that children should be “pursued not pressured into studies”, he recommended that students read his book “Exam Warriors” to get over the stress of appearing for exams. “The way ahead lies in pursuing, not pressurising children. Inspire children to do things that bring out their inner potential,” he said.He urged students to be confident about their own preparation. “Do not enter the exam hall with any sort of pressure. Do not worry about what the others are doing. Have faith in yourself and focus on what you’ve prepared,” he said. About 2,000 students and teachers attended the event. Of these, 1,050 students were selected through an essay competition.Students who got to ask questions to the prime minister were short-listed on the basis of essays submitted on five subjects - Gratitude is Great, Your Future Depends on Your Aspirations, Examining Exams, Our Duties, Your Take, and Balance is Beneficial. Read the full article

The Indian Space Research Organisation will put in all efforts to demonstrate soft landing in space in the near future and Chandrayaan-2 is not the end of story, Isro chief K Sivan said on Saturday.

He said a large number of advance satellite launches are planned in the coming months.

"You all have heard about Chandrayaan-2 mission. On the technology part yes, we could not achieve soft landing, but all the systems functioned until 300m from Moon's surface. Very valuable data is available to set things right. Let me assure that Isro will pull all its experience, knowledge and technical prowess to set things right and demonstrate soft landing in near future," Sivan said in his address at the golden jubilee convocation of IIT Delhi.

"Chandrayaan-2 is not the end of story. Our plans on Aditya L1 solar mission, human spaceflight programme are on track. A large number of advance satellite launches are planned in the coming months. SSLV will make its maiden flight sometimes in December or January. Testing of 200 ton semi-cryo engine is expected to begin shortly. Work is on to provide NAVIC signals on mobile phones, which will open the path to develop large number of applications for societal needs," he added.

Asserting that IITs are the "holy grail" of technical education in India, Sivan said when he graduated from IIT Bombay more than three decades ago, the job scenario was not as vibrant as today.

"Area of specialisation limited the career options. Today, the options are many. There is an added volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity about the global economy. However, you all are much smarter and aware about these scenarios than the older generations," he said.

The ISRO chief advised the students to chose the career options wisely.

"Keep in mind that, there is only one life and there are many career options. You all need to identify your passion and natural talent and align your career. Choose an industry that reflects your passion and interests. Rather than choosing a job for money, choose it for your happiness.

"Be good at what you do. Remember, passion is not the only ingredient needed for success. You also need skills and strengths. You might be passionate about music or cricket. But, do you have the talent and skill set to become successful in extremely competitive fields like music or sports?," he said.

One does not need to be a topper, super genius or have excellent grades to achieve a successful career, Sivan said.

"To be successful in your career, academics or business, you need not be super intelligent or a genius. You need not be the topper, you need not have excellent grades. All you need is focus by eliminating distractions and time-wasting activities," he said.

"And for god's sake, don't be a copycat. Just because, it is fashionable to be a stand-up comedian, can you be a comedian? The trick is to strive the right balance between what you love and what you are good at. You can always be passionate about music and be a competent engineer, together ," he added.

Before the convocation address, the ISRO chief signed an MoU with IIT Delhi for setting up a Space Technology Cell (STC) at the institute.

With this, IIT Delhi will join the league of other premiere institutions like

IISc Bangalore, IIT Bombay, etc. where the STCs have been set up to play a major role in taking up the space technology research and applications to the newer heights.

A total of 1,217 postgraduate and 825 undergraduate students were awarded degrees at the convocation besides the distinguished alumni awards.

Landing on Mars

Following the excitement over ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 journey, I wrote a short story in two parts for Deccan Herald’s School Edition on Indian astronauts journey to Mars.

Landing on Mars

Janaki Murali

Part 1

1 a.m.

‘Earth calling Manas.  Earth calling Priya.’

‘Nothing? Call again.’

‘Earth calling Manas. Earth calling Priya.’  

The message played out loud, echoing around the large room.

But there was no answer.  

‘Keep calling until you get a reply,’ said the director of Mission Control, as he moved from one scientist to the other, monitoring the Mars mission.

‘What’s happening? Do you have any signal?’

‘No Sir, the space ship went silent just before landing.”

There was palpable tension in the Mission Control Room in Bengaluru. Everyone was glued to their screens. Only a few moments before, they had all applauded, when the descent to Mars was going as per plan. But a few seconds before landing, the space ship had gone silent.  

It was nearly 2 am, almost an hour after they lost communication with the astronauts and they were still clueless as to what had happened to them.

The entire room was silent as they waited for some signal, any signal from the spaceship or of the lander.  Nobody wanted to articulate what everyone was thinking. Had the lander crashed on the red planet, killing both the astronauts? The nation was watching live on news channels and the rest of the world was watching via live streaming on the internet.

Beyond the Mission Control Room, sat some 50 students who had been picked from Schools across India to witness the Mars landing. The Prime Minister was there, sitting on a sofa along with other senior scientists, waiting and watching. Beside him on another sofa, sat the families of the two astronauts, holding hands. They tried not to show their anxiety, trying to keep calm, but the lines of strain appeared on their faces.    

Everyone around the world, watched with bated breath, as the scientists kept calling out to the astronauts, but there was no answer.  

***

‘Captain, we have lost communication with earth,’ said Priya, as she reached over her head to crank a lever.

‘Try again, I can see the red planet, we are only seconds away from landing.’

‘No, nothing, they must be thinking, we crashed.’

‘But we didn’t. Or we haven’t yet.’

Their lander had separated from the Orbiter around Mars as scheduled and they had been in communication with the Mission Control Room until then. They had even heard the applause coming from Bengaluru. Yet, in the space of a few seconds they had lost all communication.

‘I am unable to get Mission Control at Bengaluru. I tried even the Nasa control room, but nothing. I tried all space stations across the world, with no luck.  We are on our own captain, even the orbiter has moved away,’ said Priya.

‘Not to worry. We will follow all the steps like we have been trained. I am sure we’ll be able to establish communication with earth very soon,’ said Manas.

‘Okay Captain, I’ll keep trying.’

‘Meanwhile, let’s get ready to land.’

‘Yes, captain.’

‘Check space suits, are oxygen tanks in place and working.’

‘Yes captain.’

Manas ran through the whole check list of things they had been taught to do before landing. As he read out the list, Priya cross checked if they were in order.    

For precious seconds before their spacecraft went into the gravitational pull of the red planet, the two astronauts concentrated on doing everything right. So much so, they didn’t realise the space around them had changed. It was subtle at first, then it was swift.

‘Oh my god, what’s happening?’ asked Priya as she saw it first.

‘What?’ said Manas.

Everything turned dark and then bright, then dark and bright again. Then there was a burst of light, much like Diwali firecrackers, a spurt of brightly coloured twinkling stars. It was like they were hurtling through a kaleidoscope. There was a screeching sound on their radio. It seemed as though their communication channel was open once again.

‘Hello, is that Mission Control? This is Priya, are we glad to reach you. We’re hurtling through some kind of tunnel. It’s so beautiful outside. Like Diwali firecrackers in the sky.’

***

‘They are safe, they are safe,’ one of the scientists yelled. She was the first one to hear Priya’s message.

A cheer went around the Mission Control Room. The students stood up and clapped. Someone went to tell the Prime Minister and the families the good news. He too stood up and clapped.  

Across all the TV news channels the message was emblazoned as breaking news. ‘Communication established with the astronauts. They’re safe.’

Then everyone heard a huge thud and a crashing sound and then was silence again.

A huge gasp went around the Mission Control Room.

‘What happened?’ asked the Mission Control Director.

Nobody said anything. Nobody wanted to say it. But the strain was visible on everyone’s faces.

‘Wait, that’s not Mars, they landed on,’ said a scientist. ‘They’ve veered off course.’

‘When we lost communication with them, they were only moments from landing. But it’s been an hour since then, before we re-established contact with them,’ said another scientist.

‘They told us they were hurtling through some kind of tunnel and from all that the world has learnt about Mars, they nowhere near Mars,’ said yet another scientist.’

‘So, where are our young astronauts?’ asked the Mission Control Director.

(To be continued)

Landing on Mars

Janaki Murali

Part 2

3 a.m.

The neon lights burned bright, the screens flickered, the radar beeped.

In the Mission Control Room in Bengaluru, everyone held their breath as they waited for communication to be re-established with the young astronauts.

The Prime Minister had been led away into an ante-room. The families of the two astronauts had been led away too. The TV cameras continued to pan the expressions on each scientist’s face. The school children in the next room watched with their hands in their mouths.  Across India and the world, nobody had gone to sleep, as viewers watched the live telecast on TV screens and streaming channels on the internet.

It was a tense hour or so, since they had lost communication.

***

Priya unstrapped herself from her upside-down position from the toppled lander. She checked to see if her captain was alright, and then she saw his thumbs up sign. ‘Thank god, we are both safe.’

‘But the lander has toppled. It’s surely damaged,’ said Manas. ‘Oh my god, what is that? Is that a Martian?’  

Someone or something was peering into the glass window of their spacecraft. The object was like two green balls tied together. Its eyes were large and it had a small dot for a nose and a slash for a mouth and small hands and thin, long legs and leaf like extensions on its limbs. The creature looked like it was standing on stilts.  

‘Are they really leaves on its arms? Oh no, there are more of them, they are coming out of rocks and…and burrows from the surface. What if they’re hostile?’ said Priya.

Normally if everything had gone according to Plan A, Manas would have stepped out in the Rover and explored the planet, while Priya manned the craft. But if they were accosted by hostile life, they were to go into Plan B and take off immediately back to the mother spacecraft. But now they were trapped, as they did not know how badly damaged their craft was.  

Manas and Priya watched as the creatures surrounded the lander and began banging on it. They were gesturing to them. It seemed to be some kind of code message.

‘I am going to see if I can repair the spacecraft, you are the communications expert, try to fathom what they’re saying,’ said Manas, as he unstrapped himself from his seat and went to check all the control panels.

The parachute which was to open to soften their landing, had not opened. The lander’s solar panels were not open and soon they would lose power. The lander was sitting belly up, its legs hadn’t opened either.  

While Manas was finding out all this, Priya was going through all the code languages she had learnt in her training. She kept trying out various combinations and permutations to see if she could understand what the creatures were saying.    The creatures kept sending the same message again and again, as they continued to bang on the lander. Some of them were pushing it and the lander began titling dangerously.        

Suddenly, the microphone crackled and they heard scientists from the Mission Control Room, ‘Are you there, Manas, Priya, are you all right?’

‘Yes, yes, we are fine, but the lander is damaged, we landed belly up. We found life on Mars. We are surrounded by several odd creatures. With leaf like arms and legs. They’re banging away on the lander and pushing it. They seem to be repeating a message again and again,’ Priya said into the microphone. ‘We can’t set in motion Plan B, we are trapped. Manas will update you on the damage to our craft.’

Manas took another microphone and updated the scientists in the Mission Control Room on the damages to the lander.

In the Mission Control Room, scientists worked remotely and feverishly to fix the damaged lander. They kept giving instructions to Manas which he followed.

Meanwhile, communication experts worked with Priya to try to decipher what the creatures were saying.

‘We are from Earth. We have come in friendship. We come in peace,’ Priya kept saying in different code languages to the creatures outside, but they didn’t respond, except to keep sending the same message again and again. They kept pushing the lander until it tilted again and miraculously righted itself.

‘Those creatures are not Martians. According to our calculations, you veered off course and the tunnel you went through can’t have been near Mars,’ said a scientist to the astronauts. ‘From the pictures you sent us, we think those creatures could be some form of plant life. Don’t attempt to open the hatch or try to touch them. They don’t look very friendly.’      

 The world watched as the scientists in the Mission control room worked with the astronauts to get the lander working again. The solar panels opened and the legs righted itself.  

Suddenly, with a whirring sound, the lander took off from the surface of the strange planet. The blob like green creatures screeched and gestured wildly, as they dispersed helter-skelter and went back to their burrows or into the rocks.  

The strange planet was behind them soon. The lander docked with the mother spaceship.

‘Phew that was a close call,’ said Manas, echoing what everyone felt in the Mission Control Room. ‘We are safe now.’

Everyone in the control room cheered and clapped.

‘You can now call back the families of the astronauts and the Prime Minister back into the control room,’ said the Mission Director.  ‘But what planet was that and what were they saying?’

‘Sir, we have to analyse our data for that, but it seems as though our young Indian astronauts found a new planet. As for what they were saying, it sounded like, Namaste India,’ said a grinning young scientist.

(Concluded)    

'Chandrayaan-2 does not end of the story,' says ISRO chief K Sivan

ISRO chief K Sivan told a large number of advance satellite launches are a plan in the coming months.

New Delhi: (isro) The Indian Space Research Organisation will set in all efforts to demonstrate soft landing in space shortly, and Chandrayaan-2 does not end of the story, ISRO Chief K Sivan told on Sat.

He told a large number of advance satellite launches plan in the coming months. “You all have learned about the Chandrayaan-2 mission. On the technology part yes, we could not achieve a soft…

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ISRO Chief K Sivan said a large number of satellite launches are planned in the coming months

ISRO Chief K Sivan said a large number of satellite launches are planned in the coming months

New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation will put in all efforts to demonstrate soft landing in space in the near future and Chandrayaan-2 is not the end of story, ISRO Chief K Sivan said on Saturday. He said a large number of advance satellite launches are planned in the coming months.

“You all have heard about Chandrayaan-2 mission. On the technology part – yes, we could not achieve…

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Will put in all efforts to demonstrate soft landing in space, Chandrayaan-2 not end of story: Isro chief K Sivan

Will put in all efforts to demonstrate soft landing in space, Chandrayaan-2 not end of story: Isro chief K Sivan

https://ift.tt/2PHkZZN “You all have heard about Chandrayaan-2 mission. On the technology part – yes, we could not achieve soft landing, but all the systems functioned until 300m from Moon’s surface. Very valuable data is available to set things right. Let me assure that ISRO will pull all its experience, knowledge and technical prowess to set things right and demonstrate soft landing in near…

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Forces Shaping Our World, Fixed Vs Growth Mindset, And Handling Failure

Every Saturday, I send out this special post with a few ideas I am reading and thinking about. Plus, a question I am meditating on.

If you wish to receive this post – apart from others I write regularly on investing, decision making, behavioral finance – please sign up below.

E-Mail Address

Anyways, here is some stuff I am reading and thinking about this weekend…

Book I’m Reading – Mindset Tolstoy and Darwin were considered as ordinary as children. Iconic photographer Cindy Sherman failed her first photography course. Amitabh Bachchan got rejected by All India Radio. What differentiates them from other people who encountered similar setbacks was their mindset.

In her seminal book, Mindset, Carol Dweck writes –

Those people… were not labeling themselves and throwing up their hands. Even though they felt distressed, they were ready to take the risks, confront the challenges, and keep working on them.

In the book, Dweck elaborates on the two types of mindsets – fixed and growth.

The fixed mindset believes that intellect and talent are carved in stone, and makes people averse to failing and by relation, trying anything new. When they fail, they blame others and compare themselves with people who are worse off.

The growth mindset enables people to cultivate and improve their intelligence and abilities. It makes them engage purposefully and build true expertise. When they fail, they confront their problems and become more determined. This grit is crucial if we want to succeed, and is the most important trait that Tolstoy, Darwin, Sherman, Bachchan, and every person who has succeeded despite setbacks, possesses.

When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world – the world of fixed traits – success is about proving you’re smart and talented. Validating yourself. In the other – the world of changing qualities – it’s about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself… You have a choice. Mindsets are just beliefs. They’re powerful beliefs, but they’re just something in your mind, and you can change your mind.

Articles I’m Reading Morgan Housel recently wrote about the most important forces shaping our world, and was just amazing, like all of Morgan’s posts –

What are the … Big Things – the great-grandparents – of important topics today that we need to study if we want to understand what’s happening in the world?

Nothing is as influential as World War II has been. But there are a few other Big Things worth paying attention to, because they’re the root influencer of so many other topics.

The three big ones that stick out are demographics, inequality, and access to information.

There are hundreds of forces shaping the world not mentioned here. But I’d argue that many, even most, are derivatives of those three.

It’s a long post, but you must read it not only to understand these three powerful forces but also to appreciate Morgan’s writing and insights.

* * * Is happiness the acceptance or the absence of suffering? Well, that’s the question Zat Rana asks in his latest post and then leaves it to us to answer for ourselves –

All great mysteries get beaten down by logical paradoxes. Reality is not an either/or. It is a synthesis of conflicts. I am everything, yet I am nothing. There are no absolute answers, just like there is no absolute certainty. The only answer is that there are many answers, and the only certainty is that we are swimming in uncertainty. What we have are statements and the different angles that these statements can be seen from.

Power is the acceptance of suffering. Love is the absence of suffering. Power masters the self. Love overcomes the self. Power seeks to impact the material world into the far future. Love is content just to be, just to give, where it is, without concerning itself beyond what is immediate. So: Is happiness the acceptance or the absence of suffering? Well. That’s for you to decide.

Thought I’m Meditating On

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes (US author & physician, 1809-1894)

A Question for You India recently witnessed something deeply heartening. Our mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, failed to make contact with Vikram lander when the latter landed on the lunar surface. But the entire world applauded Indian space agency ISRO’s effort.

This was a refreshing break from the modern trend of seeing failure as an identity (I’m a failure) rather than an outcome (I failed).

You see, failure is inevitable, but how we handle failure determines what we achieve. And our mindset determines how we handle failure. ISRO has learned from its failure and is already preparing for its next moon mission.

My question to you is – Are you prepared to handle failure in your life? If yes, how? If not, why not?

Enjoy your weekend, — Vishal

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Chandrayaan 2: Meet The ‘Rocket Women’ Behind India’s Second Lunar Mission

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Chandrayaan 2: Meet The ‘Rocket Women’ Behind India’s Second Lunar Mission

Chaitra Krishnan Hyderabd040-395603080 July 23, 2019

When Chandrayaan 2 shot to the moon on 22nd July from Sriharikota, it carried along the pride and hopes of an entire nation with it. The launch that was originally scheduled to be on 14th July was called off due to a technical glitch but the delay did not affect the undeterred team behind the mission. This is India’s second successful mission that traveled all the way to the moon. Chandrayaan 1 was launched in October 2008 to map the details of the moon’s geology, mineralogy, and topography. The difference between Chandrayaan 1 and 2 is that the former did not land on the surface of the moon and the latter is all set to make a soft landing. With Chandrayaan 2’s historic landing, India will become the fourth country in the world to own this achievement after Russia, America, and China.

The brainchild of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) will land on the moon in September and explore our natural satellite closely. Out of the many interesting facts associated with the Made In India mission, the one that stands out is the women leadership involved in the project. Ritu Karidhal, the Mission Director of Chandrayaan 2 and M Vanitha, the Project Director have broken the shackles of all the stereotypes associated with women leadership. Rightfully, their names will be marked golden in the contemporary history of India. Read on to know more about these women who have brought new hopes to the entire female population of the country.

The Women Force Behind The Lunar Mission

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In a country like India that is still lagging behind in the acceptance of gender equality, girl children are often denied even the most basic education. To most of them, the moon is either a god or something that they were told about in stories and poems as a mystical object. The distance between these women and the moon is much shorter when compared to the distance that separates them from a meaningful life. Given this as the scenario, playing key roles in the country’s most ambitious space project isn’t a simple achievement for Ritu Karidhal and M Vanitha.

Source: Twitter

Ritu Karidhal is an aerospace engineer from Lucknow and she joined ISRO back in 2007. She had played a very important role as the Deputy Operations Director for India’s Mar’s Orbiter Mission aka Mangalyaan when was launched in 2013. On account of her achievements in the space research field, she is referred to as the “Rocket Woman” of India.

In a TED talk, Ritu talked about the achievement that India marked after the success of the Mangalyaan project. “The whole country was watching us, and it suddenly hit me that our aspirations and our expectations paled in comparison to the hopes of the country. And we saw the country’s hope being fulfilled right in front of us. I can never forget that moment. I was a simple girl from Lucknow, who was curious to know about outer space and who got a chance to be associated with the Mars Mission. With the success of the Mars mission, 1.3 billion Indians proved to the world that we have the capability to go this far into outer space and that we are as competent as anybody out there,” she said.

Source: Twitter

Vanitha Mutthayya, the Project Director of Chandrayaan 2 has also been a part of ISRO for quite a long time. She won the award for the Best Woman Scientist in 2006. She is in charge of Chandrayaan 2’s smooth functioning until it reaches the moon and carries out its functions. Before becoming a part of this lunar project, Vanitha worked at the ISRO Satellite Centre as the head of the Telemetry and Telecommand Divisions within the Digital Systems Group.

Another important thing to remember about the Chandrayaan 2 mission is that 30% of the entire team were all women. Hence, this scientific achievement of India will always be remembered as a huge leap for all the women across the globe.

Women In The Field Of Science And Technology

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This is not the first time India’s women scientists played incredible and vital roles in large-scale space projects. The Mars Orbiter Mission also had women scientists like Nandini Harinath who is among the most prominent scientists of ISRO. While speaking at an event in 2015, she shed light on the widely believed stereotype about women not being comfortable with Math, Science, and computing. She spoke about McKinsey’s study which found that men were promoted on the basis of their potential and women were judged after considering the accomplishments they have already made. She also said that 24 percent of the total workforce at ISRO was constituted by women and that a higher number of women seek jobs in the field of Science and Technology today.

Ritu and Vanitha’s latest achievement, along with that of the many women scientists who lead India from the frontline is a thunderclap for those who often use the phrase— “that’s not something a woman can do.” So, the next time someone asks you, “You think you can fly to the moon?” You can actually say,” Yes, I think I can.”

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India’s Going to the Moon, and the Country Is Pumped

NEW DELHI — It’s 10 a.m. on a muggy Delhi day, and it’s time for space class.

Like so many other middle schoolers, Veronica Sodhi, a 12-year-old with big dreams, says space class is her favorite subject, but on Friday there was something even more special.

India is all set to send a robotic rover to rumble around the south pole of the moon, a huge leap forward for its space program. The rocket launches at 2:51 a.m. Monday and the anticipation is stoking national pride.

Indian children are sending good luck YouTube messages to the national space agency; V.I.P.’s are converging on the launch site in a remote coastal area near Chennai; the little six-wheeled rover is crawling across the front pages of all the newspapers; and telecasters are tapping the patriotism with special broadcasts on “India’s Greatest Space Adventure.”

At the K.R. Mangalam World School near New Delhi, a place for the children of the upper middle class — there’s a roller rink on the ground floor — Veronica and her classmates were pumped.

“Children,” asked Harjeet Kaur, the space class teacher, “why did we name this mission ‘Chandrayaan’?”

Veronica shot up from her desk so fast she nearly knocked over the chair behind her.

“Because-it-means-moon-and-vehicle,” she said in one breath.

“Everybody clap for her,” the teacher said. “Is there another country that has sent a mission to the moon’s south pole?”

“No!” the students shouted back.

“We are all proud Indians, right, students?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Really? I can’t hear you.”

“YES, MA’AM!”

“It would be really cool to walk on the moon,” Veronica whispered a little while later. “I mean, kind of like hiking but really cool.”

A moon mission is a bold move for any country, but especially for one that has hundreds of millions of people still stuck in poverty.

But this is the puzzle of India. It is also a hotbed of modernity, a fount of scientific and engineering prowess. Its software developers are known as some of the world’s greatest, and each year its universities pump out thousands of highly talented scientists and engineers, experts in the most cutting-edge technologies.

Space suits it.

A big reason Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won a thumping re-election in May, is so popular is that he has been pushing a brawnier, more assertive India, hungry to claim its place as a superpower.

Just weeks before the election began— and commentators found the timing a little suspicious — Mr. Modi announced that India had just shot down a satellite whizzing 17,000 miles per hour 150 miles above Earth. Few countries can do that.

This isn’t even India’s first moon mission. In 2008, the lunar probe Chandrayaan I didn’t land, but discovered water molecules on the moon.

The moon is definitely enjoying a bit of a renaissance on Earth. China is working on its own mission to the moon’s south pole. Scientists believe there might be a lot of water ice down there as well as Helium-3, a future energy source thought to be abundant on our little neighbor.

Many Indians feel this mission, which will unfold more than 200,000 miles away, is a turning point in their country’s history. They use almost the exact same words to describe Chandrayaan’s importance: “We will now be the fourth space power!” They follow after the United States, Russia and China.

“India would like their little space in space,” said Sunita Nagpal, the principal of the K.R. Mangalam school.

To help raise the next generation of astronauts, and go beyond the standard government science curriculum (which one private school principal snobbily dismissed as written for a rickshaw puller’s son), many private schools have looked for new ways to teach space.

Enter Space India. Formed in 2001, it is a for-profit education company that runs workshops, field trips and regular classes on astronomy, rocketry and space exploration, in both public schools and fancy private ones.

Many schools do not have their own space teachers and hire instructors from Space India, which even runs overnight space camp at several locations far from any cities.

This week, its lessons revolved around the moon and the Chandrayaan II mission.

The entire mission costs less than $150 million. The orbiter will conserve fuel by making ever-widening orbits around the Earth before being captured by the moon’s gravity and pulled into lunar orbit.

This takes much longer than the straight shot made by the Apollo missions, which cost billions (the fact that humans were along for the ride wasn’t cheap either). Chandrayaan’s rover won’t be rumbling across the moon’s surface until September.

It’s hard to overlook the synergy with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission this month.

“But this is just a coincidence,” said Vivek Singh, a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization, India’s version of NASA. “We were late.”

The Indians wanted to launch two or three years ago, with a Russian rover, but when the Russians backed out they decided to build their own, which took some time.

The hardest part, everyone agrees, will be the soft landing. The plan is for a landing craft to lower itself from the orbiter and gently plop itself down on the powdery moon surface. Then the little six-wheel rover (which weighs about 60 pounds) will pop out.

When the Israelis tried to pull off a similar moon mission in April, it didn’t go so well. Communications sizzled out, leaving people gathered outside the control room with tears in their eyes. The lander had crashed.

To appreciate these difficulties, the students in space class at K.R. Mangalam school were asked to make lunar landers out of Styrofoam bowls, with folded paper taped to the side to act as a shock absorber. The trick was to drop the bowls from their desks and have them land without the astronaut — a pen cap — falling out.

At space class at another Delhi-area school, students built rockets out of plastic soda bottles. The style of teaching was the same, a very cheerful Socratic method, with another Space India instructor, Heena Bhatia, standing in front of the class shouting out questions and waiting for a rapid delivery of facts.

“You know the basic parts of the rocket? Who will tell me?”

One boy stood up and blurted out the answers like verbal bullets.

“Nose cone. Body. Fins.”

“Everyone clap for Akshay,’’ the teacher beamed. “Now do you want to make your own rockets?”

“Yes!” the class screamed.

“Sir will be giving you materials to make your own rocket,” the teacher said, gesturing to a man with tattooed forearms deep in concentration in taping together little fins — he was a Space India assistant.

All children dream of the stars. But in New Delhi, it’s often hard to see any.

That’s because the air pollution is so bad and the city lights are so bright. The result is a smudgy, opaque night sky.

“But up on the moon, it will be so beautiful,” Veronica said, her eyes glowing with that special 12-year-old light. “It will be so dark and quiet. There will be so many stars.”

“I don’t know why I’ve always had this interest in the moon,” she said. “But I do. I want to be close to it, not on YouTube, not on the internet. I’ve always dreamed of being an astronaut. I want to make my India proud of me.”

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The president's plan to revisit the moon raises lots of questions—here are the answers

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The president's plan to revisit the moon raises lots of questions—here are the answers

Donald Trump isn’t the first president to suggest we send people back to the moon, but his recent declaration sparked a lot of questions here at PopSci. Being science journalists, we went ahead and answered those queries, then compiled them here in case you’re curious, too.

Won’t going back to the moon inspire people to become scientists?

If you were a kid in 1969 who watched man first set foot on the moon through a crackling television, you may have been awe-inspired enough to want to become a scientist or an astronaut. Going back won’t have quite the same effect. Yes, we could do more advanced experiments up there and come back with better footage, but it’s not a massive feat the way it was when our computers were basically just calculators.

How much of the moon have we actually seen, and does anyone think we should see more of it?

The Apollo 11 crew (the first to touch down on the lunar surface) explored an area smaller than a soccer field. There are certainly plenty of experts who would like to learn more, especially about the dark side, which faces away from Earth and is harder to visit. We don’t know a lot about lunar geology, either, and more direct sampling could help us understand how the big cheese formed. It’s not that no one thinks we can learn more, it’s just a question of how valuable that information is compared to what else we could fund with the same money. Then again, that argument could be made against pretty much any space expedition.

How different is the space ship they’re going to use to get there? Will it be a shorter, safer trip?

Neither Trump nor Vice President Pence have given any specifics on how exactly we would return humans to the moon. That being said, NASA would probably do it with their Space Launch System, which is going to replace the space shuttle (retired in 2011) for ferrying people to the International Space Station and eventually (maybe) help get humans to Mars. It would undoubtedly be safer than the original space shuttle, if only because we have better technology today, but it wouldn’t be without risk. Sticking humans on top of a rocket and shooting them into space is dangerous no matter what.

The trip probably wouldn’t be much shorter, though. The safest way to make sure astronauts return to Earth is to use a free return trajectory, where you launch the rocket at precisely the right time and velocity so that it doesn’t require any more adjustment—once it leaves Earth’s orbit, it falls into the moon’s, loops around, then comes back. This took Apollo missions about 2.5 to 3 days. If we wanted to go back, we wouldn’t be shaving much time off of that estimate simply because the capsule has to move at particular speeds in order to enter the moon’s orbit. A craft going to fast would zip right past.

If humans lived on the moon, would we have to live in tunnels under the surface?

We could build moon habitats on the surface. But we’d have to watch out for bits of meteors and particles from solar flares that slam into the satellite, because there’d be no atmosphere to protect us. The ideal real estate is at the poles, since the rest of the moon experiences 14-day-long nights (and days), and temperatures range from 253 to -387°F. You don’t get these extremes at the poles, so we could take shelter in the perpetual twilight. Which sounds suuuuuuuper fun.

Why does Donald Trump want to go to the moon?

Look, it makes sense to have nostalgia for the time when we just got all our crap together and got ourselves to the gosh-darned moon. It’s true that the Apollo missions were good for patriotism in the U.S.—heck, that’s why President Kennedy wanted to go in the first place. We’re just not convinced that going back will inspire the same blind enthusiasm that the original mission did.

What do we have to gain by sending humans, not robots, to the moon?

It’s certainly cheaper and safer to send a ‘bot. Crewed missions require capsules equipped with life-support systems, and you have to gently land people on the surface. Robots, on the other hand, often land in a sort of semi-crash. All that extra design, weight, and gear costs money. Plus, you risk those human lives. If a robot gets destroyed in the process, we’ve lost the time and money we invested, but no one got all the way to the moon only to die there. Which the people who sent men to the moon were always prepared for, by the way.

Why send humans instead? Some people actually argue that robots should handle all of our future space expeditions. But it’s true that humans are much better at thinking on their feet (at least for now). Other than that, it’s mostly a spirit-of-exploration kinda thing.

What kind of science do we miss out on if we pay for a trip to the moon?

NASA’s most recent estimate put the cost of another moon trip at roughly $10 billion. It’s not a precise trade-off with other federally funded science, because we can’t know what pennies would be pinched and where to scrape that funding together. But to put the number in perspective, we could fund the entire National Parks Service about three times over with that money. They have a backlog of maintenance right now that’s hovering at $12 billion, so we could almost wipe that out with our hypothetical moon money.

Or we could put that cash toward the National Institutes of Health, which operates on a $35.6 billion budget. An extra $10 billion would mean a lot of much-needed grants for scientists investigating ways to cure Alzheimer’s disease and treat all types of cancer. Funding is scarce, and researchers often spend huge chunks of their time trying to find money rather than actually researching.

We could also almost triple the Office of Science’s budget. The Office of Science is part of the Department of Energy, and is the biggest sponsor of physical science research in the U.S. They fund all of the national laboratories and have produced 76 Nobel Prize winners. Think of how many we could produce with another $10 billion!

If we want to stick to space spending, that money could chip off about 10 percent of the price of going to Mars, or fund something like 14 missions like New Horizons, which studied Pluto and is soon to investigate a strange new object. We could also have three Cassinis. Three! Cassinis!

Who’s going to the moon?

Many agencies (including NASA) have robotic missions in the works. Several contestants in Google’s Lunar XPRIZE are set to land in the next few years, with various plans to hop and rove around. India’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, is slated for launch in 2018 and will include an orbiter, lander, and rover. China’s Chang’e 4 should land on the far side of the moon later that year. NASA will send the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit in 2019 (without anyone onboard).

But when it comes to human missions, all existing plans are still in the wishy-washy stage of development. Elon Musk recently claimed that SpaceX would send two private citizens on a lunar fly-by by late 2018. A crewed test of the Orion spacecraft is supposed to take astronauts into lunar orbit by 2020, but that date is really rather up in the air until we nail the uncrewed version of the test.

Russia plans to launch a crewed orbiter in 2028 and land humans on the moon in 2030. Japan also has a 2030 landing supposedly in the works, while China plans a landing for 2036. The Russian agency Roscosmos has talked about plans to have some kind of lunar base by the 2030s. But all of these missions are in the very earliest stages of planning, and could very well be scrapped.

Is there any reason we should or aren’t trying to go to the dark side?

Because our planet’s tidal forces have slowed the moon’s rotation, Earth always sees just one hemisphere of our satellite while the other half always looks away. But it’s not actually dark. Each half sees two weeks of sunlight or darkness at a time. So if the far side isn’t some eternally black hellscape, why didn’t we ever go there? The answer is pretty simple: the moon blocks radio communications from Earth. When astronauts took a slingshot around the far side on their way back home, they were totally incommunicado until they emerged on the other side.

But astronaut Harrison Schmitt, a geologist who flew on Apollo 17, thought it was a shame to leave the far side unexplored. He proposed a plan to put a communications satellite out beyond the moon, positioned in orbit so as to keep NASA in touch with astronauts on the far side. Unsurprisingly, this extra planning, hardware, and launch was deemed too expensive. But in theory it could be done!

So far no one has picked up data from the surface of the far side (though astronauts and orbiters have seen it many times). NASA’s Ranger 4 probe impacted the surface in 1962, but it didn’t return any scientific data. If China’s Chang’e 4 lands on the far side as planned in late 2018, it will be the first probe to successfully do so. China will first launch a communication relay station to facilitate contact with the robot.

Why go to the dark side? It’s not just like the part of the moon we’ve landed on stretches out in all directions, unchanged. Most of the hemisphere we’ve stomped on is made up of “maria” (named because scientists once thought they were seas of lunar water), which are plains formed by ancient volcanic activity. The far side is mostly made up of craters, and scientists aren’t totally sure why it’s gotten more of a battering. But is it worth the cost of a crewed mission when we could send better robots and orbiters? Doubtful. Still, perhaps a trip to the never-before-touched far side could inspire the kind of public fervor NASA accomplished with its first missions.

Would the moon make a good base to launch missions to Mars?

There’s really no straight answer to this, because folks disagree. Both politicians and engineers have made vague proclamations about the moon being a stepping stone to Mars, and they don’t always mean that literally.

Okay, so what are the benefits of literally launching from the moon? Sure, the gravity is lower, so it would take less fuel. But to take advantage of that, we’d have to have such a sophisticated moon base that we could create and build every bit of the rocket and launch pad on the lunar surface. Otherwise, we’d just be shipping all the pieces up to the moon and then using another mess of fuel to launch it a second time. And if low gravity on the moon is good, wouldn’t zero gravity in space be better? Build an orbiting space launch base! Or don’t—that would be expensive.

There are other, less literal, more realistic ways the moon could serve as a stepping stone. Some research suggests we should launch Mars-bound rockets with just enough fuel to get to the moon—as long as we can figure out how to turn lunar water-ice into fuel for the rest of the trip. The viability of this plan is definitely TBD. Then there’s the idea that sending folks to the moon will help us get our sea legs by improving our rocketships, space suits, extraterrestrial homesteading skills, and general astronaut preparedness. That’s a good point, but one could also argue that the funds and time we divert to moon exploration could simply be poured into an aggressive gun for Mars itself.

Haven’t we said we were going back to the moon before?

Yup. The Washington Post has a helpful rundown of all the presidential space promises that have been for naught. But if we’re just talking about returns to the moon, President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush made such declarations. President Obama scrapped the latter Bush’s program in favor of renewed vigor toward Martian exploration.

Written By By Rachel Feltman and Sara Chodosh

Five reasons India, China and other nations plan to travel to the Moon

by Marc Norman and Penelope King

No human has been to the Moon since 1972 and only 12 people have ever done it – all of them American men.

But that list could soon be getting a lot longer.

Why the Moon? Haven’t we already been there, done that? Well, yes. But now there are new reasons motivating countries to reach the Moon.

Human and other missions to the Moon are planned by India, China and Russia, as well as Japan and Europe. South Korea and North Korea are also looking towards the Moon.

Even NASA seems to be getting its mojo back, recently announcing a revamped vision for a Deep Space Gateway that includes a port of call at the Moon en route to Mars and beyond. Elon Musk has also called for a Moon base.

Private companies are vying for a slice of the Moon pie, lured by Google’s multi-million dollar XPRIZE that challenges entrants to develop low-cost methods for robotic space exploration.

A space race of sorts seems to back on in earnest, for five reasons.

Apollo 12 crewman with tools and carrier of Apollo Lunar Hand Tools on the Moon, November 1969. NASA

Reason 1: a vision for innovation

In the past and still now, one reason that space attracts interest and investment is that humans seem driven to explore and push the limits, physically and viscerally.

But space also acts as a unifying force, providing a clear vision that pushes technology and innovation forwards.

After several decades of relative neglect, space exploration is again seen as driving technology, inspiring engagement with science and engineering, and creating national pride. The program at the recent International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide captured that sentiment.

Read more: Explainer: What is a lunar eclipse?

These motivators are seen as especially important by emerging economies like India, China and Russia, which means that more established players like Europe and the USA have to work harder keep up.

The recent announcement that Australia will have a space agency is expected to create new opportunities for this country.

Reason 2: economic and geopolitical advantages

Paradoxically, exploration of the Moon builds both international cooperation and competition.

Even if they don’t have their own space program, countries can develop instruments to fly on spacecraft that are built and launched by other nations. For example, India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft carried instruments from Sweden, Germany, UK, Bulgaria, and the US to the Moon. This helps mesh economies and provides strong motivation to keep the peace.

Economic and geopolitical competition occurs because the Moon is seen as unclaimed territory. No country is allowed to own the Moon, at least according to a 1967 UN Treaty that has agreement from over 100 countries.

Nonetheless, there are incentives to place a claim on the Moon. For example, helium-3 (an isotope of the element helium) is abundant on the Moon, but rare on Earth. It is a potential fuel for nuclear fusion, a potentially unlimited and non-polluting source of energy. China, in particular, has stated a strong interest in lunar helium-3.

The situation appears similar to that of Antarctica in the 1950s, when the continent was subdivided by the 12 countries that had active scientific programs in the region at the time. Sending a spacecraft to the Moon – even if it fails prematurely like India’s Chandrayaan-1 – may provide a compelling case for recognition if the Moon were ever to be carved up into zones of research and economic development.

Russia, China, Japan, Europe and the USA landed (or crashed) spacecraft on the Moon in the decades after Apollo.

Reason 3: an easy target

Growing space agencies need successful missions, and the Moon is a tempting target. Radio communication over the relatively short distance between the Earth and Moon (384,400 km) is almost instantaneous (1-2 sec). Between Earth and Mars, two-way communication times can be the better part of an hour.

The low gravity and lack of an atmosphere on the Moon also simplifies operations for orbiters and landers.

The Russian Luna missions showed that it is technically feasible to apply robotics to bring samples from the Moon to Earth. China aims to launch a robotic mission to the Moon in the next 1-2 years to fetch samples. If successful, these will be the first samples brought back from the Moon since Luna 24 in 1976.

Reason 4: new discoveries

Despite decades of observations, each new mission to the Moon produces new discoveries.

Japan’s Selene spacecraft and India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission discovered new distributions of minerals on the Moon, and probed regions of potential resources.

An exciting discovery has been the presence of water ice and other organic compounds in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon that never see sunlight. If present in sufficient quantities, water ice on the Moon could be used as a resource for generating fuel or supporting human habitation. This would be a major advantage for future missions considering the cost of carrying water from the Earth to the Moon.

Read more: Antarctica may hold the key to regulating mining in space

Although immense engineering advances are needed to recover these resources from environments as cold as -250℃, such challenges drive new technologies.

Reason 5: we learn about Earth

Aside from the practicalities, exploration of the Moon has revealed completely new ideas about the origin of the Solar system.

Prior to the Apollo missions, planets were thought to form over long periods of time by the slow agglomeration of dusty particles. Moon rocks returned to Earth by the Apollo missions changed that idea literally overnight. We now know that gigantic collisions between planets were common, and one such collision of a Mars-size planet with the Earth probably formed the Moon (animation).

We’ve also learned that the dark circular features on the Moon are scars of impacting asteroids stirred up by shifts in the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn.

Future studies of the Moon will undoubtedly lead to even deeper insights into the origin of the Earth, our home planet.

Space exploration is not only about “out there”. Travel to the Moon creates jobs, technical innovations and new discoveries that improve the lives of all of us “down here”.

Lachlan McGowan also contributed to this article.

Marc Norman is Emeritus Fellow at Australian National University and Penelope King is an Associate Professor at Australian National University.

This article was originally published on The Conversation.