Context
NASA has invited ISRO to participate in its proposed Moon Base programme, envisaging a sustained human outpost near the lunar south pole around 2030. The initiative could deepen India-U.S. space cooperation amid competing U.S.-led Artemis and China-Russia-led lunar programmes.
Explanation
- The lunar south pole is strategically important because permanently shadowed craters contain water ice, while some elevated regions receive prolonged sunlight.
- Water ice could support astronauts and potentially provide hydrogen and oxygen for fuel and life-support systems.
- NASA’s Artemis programme aims to return humans to the Moon and establish a sustained lunar presence.
- India joined the Artemis Accords in 2023, which establish principles for peaceful and cooperative civil space exploration.
- China and Russia are developing the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), targeted around the lunar south pole.
- Chandrayaan-3 made India the first country to achieve a soft landing in the Moon’s south polar region.
- Future lunar cooperation involves interoperability, space-resource utilisation, international standards and strategic autonomy.
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