Why are countries trying to land on the Moon?

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On Wednesday, India became the fourth country to successfully land a craft on the Moon. Their Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down close to the Moon’s south pole, an area of profound scientific interest that’s marked by ancient ice deposits and tall, sunlit peaks.

India is not the only country looking to the Moon. China has had a few crafts make it to the Moon in recent years, while NASA’s Artemis program is aiming for a 2025 landing. And Russia nearly managed to return to the Moon just this week, but its Luna-25 craft crashed into the lunar surface three days before Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing.

What’s with all this renewed interest in Earth’s only natural satellite? And why do countries like India and China, who weren’t involved in the space race of the 1960s, want in? I asked Mariel Borowitz, an expert in international space policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, for more insight into the geopolitics of Moon landings.

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Mary Magnuson

Assistant Science Editor

India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully touched down on the south pole of the Moon on Aug. 23, 2023, sparking celebrations across the country. AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi

India’s Chandrayaan-3 landed on the south pole of the Moon − a space policy expert explains what this means for India and the global race to the Moon

Mariel Borowitz, Georgia Institute of Technology

India became the first country to land near the south pole of the Moon, a notoriously difficult achievement that also marks them as the fourth country to land on the Moon.

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Why are countries trying to land on the Moon?

India’s Chandrayaan-3 landed on the south pole of the Moon − a space policy expert explains what this means for India and the global race to the Moon

Politics + Society

Trump out on bail – a criminal justice expert explains the system of cash bail

Arts + Culture

AI scores in the top percentile of creative thinking

Health + Medicine

Screen time is contributing to chronic sleep deprivation in tweens and teens – a pediatric sleep expert explains how critical sleep is to kids’ mental health

Ethics + Religion

How some Muslim and non-Muslim rappers alike embrace Islam’s greeting of peace

Education

How educational research could play a greater role in K-12 school improvement

International

Brics expansion: six more nations are set to join - what they’re buying into

Trending on site

Wagner group’s Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly died in private jet crash – if confirmed, it wouldn’t be first time someone who crossed Putin met a suspicious demise

What is most likely going on in Area 51? A national security historian explains why you won’t find aliens there

8 GOP candidates debate funding to Ukraine, Trump’s future and – covertly, with dog whistles – race

The Conversation Quiz 🧠

More of The Conversation

About The Conversation

Donate now to support research-based journalism

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