India too can have a house on Moon village

BANGALORE:: 2015 A.D.: InternationalRobotic Village,Moon.: Advancedrobotic elements.This isn't science fiction. In 10years, the Moon will be evocative of the term global village, peopled withrobots engaged in creating the right atmosphere for humans. It'llalso be a precursor to setting up a permanent human base on theMoon.The European Space Agency (ESA), which already has a satellite,SMART-1, orbiting the Moon, is spearheading this concept.Accordingto the proposal, ESA estimates that robotic landings on the Moon will bepossible by 2012 and a full-scale village with robotic elements by 2015, with2020 being the year for establishing a permanent human base."Livingon the Moon is only the first step; it will help us learn how to live on anotherplanet. "The Moon has ice and rich minerals, and it is possible toobtain solar power. But the challenge will be to live on a place which hasone-sixth the gravity of that on Earth," ESA chief scientist Bernard H. Foingtold The Times of India.Foing is in Bangalore to participate in athree-day conference on 'Advances in Planetary Exploration' and to present thefirst results and perspective of SMART-1.The ESA satellite willsoon be joined by India's Chandrayaan-1 and at least three other satellites tobe launched by China, Japan and the US. ESA is also cooperating withIndia in Chandrayaan-1, scheduled for launch in late 2007 or early2008."All these missions are extremely important because they willhelp in mapping the Moon and in studying various aspects."There areindications of the presence of peaks of eternal light; if these are confirmed,they could be advantageous locations to install solar power infrastructure tofeed future robotic/human outposts and colonies," Foing said.Heforesees extensive international cooperation in this project."Wedefinitely expect India to be a part of this. Each country can set up or own ahouse in the robotic village, helping each other in various studies and otheraspects; we could set up greenhouses and study and simulate conditions for humansettlement."We could evolve cost-effective life supportsystems."Desi mission, videshi payload Chandrayan-1 will carrythree European payloads to the Moon to be used in experiments on the lunarsurface, ISRO chief G. Madhavan Nair announced on Monday. As per anMoU signed between ISRO and ESA, the payloads will include instruments such asan X-ray detector, a particle detector and a multi-spectral imager.