Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

The first private company just landed on the moon. Here's how they did it.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Intuitive Machines' uncrewed Odysseus moon landing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intuitive-machines-ceo-safety-switch-almost-lost-odysseus-moon-landing-2024-2">almost failed due to a single safety switch</a>.</li><li>Other moon-landing attempts have crashed or burned due to leaky valves or software glitches.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-moon-landings-on-lunar-south-pole-crashed-2023-8">Landing on the moon is so difficult</a> that, until last year, only three nations had ever done it without crashing. Recently, India, Japan, and one private company — Intuitive Machines — have joined their ranks.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intuitive-machines-im-1-odysseus-moon-lunar-landing-mission-nasa-2024-2">Intuitive Machines' moon landing</a> on Thursday was particularly significant, returning the US to the lunar surface for the first time in nearly 52 years and softly landing the first commercial spacecraft on the moon.But the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-intuitive-machines-moon-landing-attempt-after-astrobotic-fail-2024-2">mission</a> narrowly avoided the same fate as several lunar-landing attempts before it: death by small engineering error.The Houston-based company's uncrewed Odysseus lander was almost lost to one of the tiniest possible mistakes. A safety switch that should have been switched off before <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vulcan-peregrine-us-mission-first-land-moon-astrobotic-human-remains-2024-1">launch</a> was left on instead, effectively disabling the navigation system that was supposed to guide the robot to a safe landing spot.<div type="image" title="fisheye view of lunar surface with moon lander legs in the foreground" height="800" width="600" msid="108055483" hostid="261" sizebytes="27018"></div>With less than two hours to go before landing, Intuitive Machines engineers frantically whipped up a new navigation system. They reprogrammed the spacecraft to instead use the laser technology from a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-made-oxygen-out-of-thin-air-on-mars-2023-9">NASA experiment</a> it was carrying to the moon. The experiment wasn't meant to land the spacecraft, but it worked in a pinch.At the last second, though, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-india-moon-landing-cost-cheap-compared-to-nasa-russia-2023-8">lander</a> tipped over and settled on its side. That seems to be unrelated to the errant safety switch.<div type="image" title="moon lander model small figurine laying sideways on a table propped on a small blue mini of itself with a torso in a suit in the background seated at the table with hands folded next to a microphone" height="712" width="1262" msid="108055484" hostid="261" sizebytes="22606"></div>"<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/william-shatner-jeff-bezos-blue-origin-spaceflight-funeral-2022-10">Spaceflight</a> is hard. A million things have to go right, and if one thing goes wrong, you can still have a failure," Trent Martin, vice president of space systems at Intuitive Machines, said in a NASA press briefing in January, weeks before Odysseus launched.Indeed, several robotic moon landing attempts have crashed or otherwise malfunctioned in the last few years. Overall, only about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/success-rate-of-lunar-missions-is-a-little-over-50-as-per-nasa-database/articleshow/101774227.cms">50% of lunar landing missions succeed</a>.In each recent case, failure comes down to tiny engineering details — of a million steps, just one going wrong. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mind-boggling-nasa-photo-shows-moon-distance-from-earth-2022-10">Photos</a> from those missions show just how important the little things are in spaceflight.<h2>Astrobotic's lander may have succumbed to one leaky valve</h2>Sometimes all it takes to kill a moon landing is one small piece of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-delayed-nasa-launch-red-nail-polish-blocking-rocket-engines-2020-10">subpar hardware</a>.Just a month before Intuitive Machines triumphed, Astrobotic — another US company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-lands-4-astronauts-for-nasa-spaceflight-record-2021-4">working with NASA</a> to reach the moon — failed.Just hours after launch, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astrobotic-moon-lander-leaking-fuel-after-launch-threatening-mission-2024-1">Astrobotic's Peregrine lander began leaking fuel</a>. When it beamed its first photo back to Earth, it showed the lander's insulation crumpling.<div type="image" title="Photo of dented Multi-Layer Insulation on board the Peregrine mission." height="1080" width="1920" msid="108055526" hostid="261" sizebytes="56992"></div>Astrobotic said the most likely cause was a valve failing to reseal in the fuel-tank system. That small failure was enough to drain the lander's fuel, cause the crumpling in the photo, and ultimately <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-astrobotic-peregrine-anomaly-sift-error-software-testing-2024-1">doom the mission</a>.Landing on the moon had become impossible, Astrobotic decided, so <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-moon-lander-peregrine-burn-up-earth-atmosphere-satellite-astrobotic-2024-1">Peregrine burned up in Earth's atmosphere</a> instead.<h2>3 moon crashes show how time is compressed in the final '15 minutes of terror'</h2>Especially in the final stages of descent, there is almost no room for error in a moon landing.That's what India learned from its first attempt to land on the moon, in 2019. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-india-israel-failed-moon-landings-failed-final-descent-2019-9">The Vikram lander crashed into the moon</a> because it slowed down more quickly than its braking system had been programmed to accommodate, <a target="_blank" href="https://spacenews.com/new-details-emerge-about-failed-lunar-landings/">SpaceNews</a> later reported.NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) later discovered Vikram's remains scattered across the lunar surface.<div type="image" title="lunar surface area with blue and green dots indicating vikram lander crash debris spread long over several kilometers" height="1041" width="1041" msid="108055527" hostid="261" sizebytes="227012"></div>In those final stages, a spacecraft is completely on its own. There is no time for mission operators to respond to fresh data from the spacecraft, write new commands, and beam them back to the moon."Time gets greatly compressed," Robert Braun, the space exploration lead at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, previously told Business Insider. "There's very little margin to try something again if it didn't happen as planned."That's why Kailasavadivoo Sivan, who was India's space program director at the time, has called this final phase "15 minutes of terror."Last year <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-company-ispace-fears-moon-probe-crash-landed-2023-4">Japanese company ispace also lost its moon lander</a> in those final stages, just a few miles above the lunar surface, due to a software glitch. LRO spotted that lander in pieces, too:<div type="image" title="gif flashing between before and after images of the lunar surface show the appearance of four spots of debris from a lunar lander crash" height="985" width="985" msid="108055528" hostid="261" sizebytes="47310"></div>"Once you initiate a landing sequence, you're committed. It's kind of like jumping out of a plane," Braun said. "Your parachute has to work."The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tardigrades-on-moon-spacecraft-beresheet-likely-still-alive-2019-8">Beresheet lander, by Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL</a>, also went into freefall during the critical final stages of its landing in 2019. One computer command led to a cascade of technical glitches that made its main engine fail. LRO spotted its wreckage, too:<div type="image" title="israel beresheet private moon lander crash site nasa lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro labeled" height="1207" width="1200" msid="108055529" hostid="261" sizebytes="189456"></div><h2>Japan's upside-down moon landing survived a major failure</h2>Japan's <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jaxas-slim-spacecraft-japan-first-moon-landing-attempt-2023-12">Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)</a> recently survived a big malfunction — with a twist.One of the lander's two main thrusters failed as it was descending, causing the spacecraft to tumble. It survived the chaotic fall, and managed to deploy the two tiny rovers it carried.But a photo from one of those rovers later revealed the lander had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-moon-probe-landed-upside-down-still-works-2024-1">landed upside-down</a>.<div type="image" title="image taken by a Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2) of a robotic moon rover called Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, on the moon." height="2252" width="3000" msid="108055530" hostid="261" sizebytes="322110"></div>That angled its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-lander-hibernating-so-batteries-dont-die-2021-4">solar panels</a> away from the sun, which has taken a toll on the spacecraft's energy generation and left it with too little battery power to operate for much of its mission.SLIM's case shows that sometimes extremely robust hardware and software engineering, plus a healthy dose of luck, can help a lander do its job despite an error or two.Similarly, Intuitive Machines' success on Thursday shows that small errors don't necessarily have to spell <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-spacecraft-where-still-contact-communication-end-soon-2024-1">the end of a mission</a>."Space is hard, and equipment doesn't always operate as expected," Braun told Business Insider after Odysseus landed. "In this case here, engineers on the ground came up with an ingenious way to keep the mission on track and actually accomplish the landing."

Space photos from 5 recent moon-landing missions show how tiny engineering errors can cause big problems, like crashing or landing sideways

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-plans-send-humans-to-moon-celebrates-lunar-probe-success-2023-8">India</a> is the first to ever land near <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-scientist-microbial-life-hiding-on-moon-south-pole-2023-6">the moon's south pole</a> and it succeeded without breaking the bank.</li><li>The Chandrayaan-3 moon mission cost far less than <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-attempt-land-moon-ends-in-disaster-luna-25-2023-8">Russia's moon mission</a> or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-viper-moon-rover-landing-spot-lunar-south-pole-2021-9">NASA's planned rover</a>.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-india-attempt-first-ever-moon-landing-2023-8">India's first moon landing</a>, which touched down near the lunar south pole on August 23, was both historic and budget-friendly.At about $74 million, India's moon mission was less than half the cost of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-luna-25-crash-land-on-moon-2023-8">Russia's south-pole lander</a> ($200 million), which misfired its engines and crashed on August 20, as well as the estimated budget of NASA's planned VIPER rover to the lunar south pole ($433.5 million).The Indian mission, called Chandrayaan-3, which is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-moon-landings-on-lunar-south-pole-crashed-2023-8">the first spacecraft to ever touch down near the moon's south pole</a>, was also cheaper than the Hollywood space blockbusters "Gravity" ($100 million), "The Martian" ($108 million), and "Interstellar" ($165 million).<div type="image" title="A 3D reconstitution of the India moon lander is seen descending on the moon." height="1279" width="1705" msid="103032863" hostid="261"></div>"Good for India," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/working-for-elon-musk-spacex-workplace-culture-twitter-jim-cantrell-2022-11">SpaceX CEO Elon Musk</a> wrote, commenting on the mission's low price tag in a <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1693951114595422475?s=20">post</a> on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.Asked how they managed to keep costs so low, S. Somanath, the director of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), told reporters with a laugh: "I won't disclose such secrets. We don't want everyone else to become so cost-effective," according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/23/science/india-moon-landing-chandrayaan-3#:~:text=It%20made%20India%20the%20first,Hollywood%20space%20film%20%E2%80%9CGravity.%E2%80%9D">New York Times</a>.<div type="image" title="S. Somanath mustached man smiles surrounded by reporters with microphones in his face" height="1500" width="2000" msid="103032866" hostid="261"></div>Unlike <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">NASA</a>, which is required to publish detailed budget proposals, India has shared very little information about its budgeting. So, it's unclear what went into the $74 million cost estimate.That's also a conversion from Indian currency, rupees, so the comparison isn't apples to apples.Still, the small price tag can be partially explained by the small size and scope of the mission, and the fact that it was a redo of an earlier flight.<h2>Small spacecraft, small costs</h2><div type="image" title="white rocket with two boosters on its sides launches through clouds with flames shooting out of boosters" height="1500" width="1999" msid="103032869" hostid="261"></div>India's main strategy for being frugal on the moon seems to be that it kept the spacecraft small.Weighing in at just 1,752 kilograms, according to <a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan3_Details.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ISRO</a>, Chandrayaan-3 was likely relatively cheap to launch."Small landers imply smaller launch vehicles, smaller components, less materials," Robert Braun, head of space exploration at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, told Insider. "If the scope of the mission is small, then the cost is likely to be small."That's a lesson that ISRO first learned in 2014, when they became the first country to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-india-made-their-mars-orbiter-cheap-2014-9">successfully insert a spacecraft in Mars orbit</a> on the first try.By keeping the payload light, adapting technologies ISRO had used before, and keeping workers' salaries lean, <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/03/these-scientists-sent-a-rocket-to-mars-for-less-than-it-cost-to-make-the-martian/#:~:text=No%20space%20organization%20had%20succeeded,The%20Martian%E2%80%9D%20was%20%24108%20million." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wired </a>reported, the agency managed to keep the receipt for the Mars mission to $74 million. (Same as Chandrayaan-3. Weird coincidence!)<div type="image" title="two men in harnets and clean suits talk in front of a gold foil covered spacecraft in a large cleanroom" height="1498" width="1998" msid="103032871" hostid="261"></div>This is markedly different from how NASA's Mars orbiter, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-maven-enters-orbit-2014-9">MAVEN</a>, operated. India "kept it small," Andrew Coates, a physics professor who has worked on European and NASA Mars missions, told the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29341850" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a> in 2014. "The payload weighs only about 15 kg. Compare that with the complexity in the payload in MAVEN and that will explain a lot about the cost."The proof of concept may lie in comparing the programs' receipts. The MAVEN mission cost NASA $582.5 million, <a href="https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/maven-cost#:~:text=The%20MAVEN%20mission%20cost%20%24582.5,operations%20during%20its%20primary%20mission." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Planetary Society.</a>But Chandrayaan-3 was actually heavier than Russia's failed mission, called Luna-25, which weighed about 1,237 kg by the time it reached lunar orbit, <a href="https://www.russianspaceweb.com/luna-glob-flight.html#0819" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Anatoly Zak, an English-language reporter covering Russia's space programs.That's where India's other strategy may come in to beat out Russia's price tag.<h2>Start small and build step by step, to the moon and beyond</h2><div type="image" title="A picture from the Apollo 11 mission shows the Earth seen from the Moon." height="3114" width="4152" msid="103032873" hostid="261"></div>This wasn't India's first attempt to land near the moon's south pole. A previous mission, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-india-israel-failed-moon-landings-failed-final-descent-2019-9">Chandrayaan-2, crashed</a> there in 2019.The costs of research, development, and testing that went into that first attempt may not be included in the cost of Chandrayaan-3."They've approached their lunar program as a series of missions," Braun said. "That is a way of managing cost."India's moon program began with Chandrayaan-1, which sent a spacecraft into lunar orbit and dropped a hard-impact probe to intentionally crash into the lunar surface.That's a much easier and cheaper mission to start building new capabilities, then build up to a soft landing and a small rover.NASA has taken a similar approach to Mars, and it has "worked very well," Braun said.Compare that to Russia's Luna-25 mission. It was the country's first mission to the moon since the 1970s and the fall of the Soviet Union. It aimed to make a soft landing on the south pole of the moon, where nobody had succeeded yet."They went with a pretty hard mission, right out of the gate," Braun said, adding, "I think an incremental approach actually is a great way to pursue space exploration. One step at a time."Correction: August 28, 2023 — An earlier version of this article misstated Robert Braun's title. He is head of space exploration at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, not head of a Space Exploration Center there. This story has been updated. It was originally published on August 24, 2023.Editor's note September 1, 2023: This article has been updated to clarify that India's spacecraft landed in the lunar south pole region, not on the point of the lunar south pole.

How India landed on the moon and flew to Mars at a fraction of the cost of NASA and Russia missions

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Shireen Nagdive worked as a software engineer in India when she applied for a master's in the US.</li><li>She told Business Insider it was a big risk taking out a $59,000 loan for her studies.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 29-year-old Shireen Nagdive from Kalyan, India, about her experience moving to the US and working for Salesforce. The following has been edited for length and clarity.I grew up in a very small town in India called Kalyan, near Mumbai. I've been interested in computers since I was a child and wanted to pursue a career in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/computer-science-job-market-was-tougher-than-i-expected-2023-12">computer science</a> since the eighth grade.I did my bachelor's degree in computer science at Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/indians-leaving-big-tech-to-launch-startups-back-home-2024-9">India</a> from 2012 to 2016. In the last year of my course, I got an offer as a software engineer for a multinational company in India.I'm the first woman in my family to graduate from college and work for a big corporation.<h2 id="a8a22fef-ba92-45d4-8510-b66557966d2f">I applied for a master's in the US</h2>I moved in with some roommates from work. They were all sitting the graduate record examination, which can help with admissions to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/graduate-school-masters-mba-college-regret-2024-7">business schools in the US</a>.I'd never heard of it. No one close to me had pursued a career outside our hometown, let alone in the US.At 23, I knew I wanted to spend my whole career in tech, and it seemed like a good time to study for a couple of years in the US. I wanted to deepen my understanding of computer science and work on more complex projects. I decided to do the exam and see what happened. Every day after my 9-to-5, I'd study for the exam.I sat the exam and got decent marks, so I applied for several master's degrees in computer science in the US in 2017. I had a rough idea of how expensive they were, but I didn't know how I'd pay for them. I got into the computer science master's program at Stony Brook College in New York to start in 2018.<h2 id="e52405e2-72cb-4d22-aabd-529d38764bc3">I took a big risk taking out a loan</h2>I'd funded my examination and college application fees through my job, but I had no idea how I would finance a master's degree in America.The course fees were $59,000. That is a lot of money, which my family didn't have.I'd have to take on a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/professor-student-loan-debt-suddenly-forgiven-2024-8">lot of debt</a>. One option was to take out a collateral loan on our family home. The bank would be able to take the property as collateral if I didn't make my payments. My dad and I discussed this, but we didn't want our only house to be an asset on the loan.I decided to take out a non-collateral loan to cover the fee cost, which has a higher interest rate.Relatives asked me why I was taking on so much debt for my education instead of buying a house in India, building my own company, or making an investment. My dad, who had paid for my bachelor's degree, was worried, but my mom encouraged him to trust me.I questioned whether it was worth it, but I wanted to invest in myself. I thought: "If I don't take this risk now, I will regret it for the rest of my life."To counteract my doubts, I developed a calculated risk framework. What would be the worst thing that could happen, and how I would resolve it?The worst-case scenario was that I didn't get a job in the US, and it would take me a lot longer to repay my debt, including more interest. My solution was to return to India, where I knew I could get work. It might take me a decade to repay my debt, but at least I'd have no regrets.<h2 id="2e018fd4-9e86-4790-b36d-30a1edca9c44">I focused on what I could control</h2>I'd never been to the US before, but my debts scared me more than moving to a new country. Stony Brook is in New York. I visualized skyscrapers like in movies, but the college was actually in Long Island. My room was cramped. I initially wondered why I had come, but I made friends and adjusted to the city.Two weeks after I started, my friend and I wanted to try out salsa classes. That day, I heard from my roommates that someone on the course had already landed an internship with Microsoft. I hadn't even started preparing to apply to internships. I ditched the salsa and told myself I'd focus solely on my applications to tech jobs and interview preparation.Landing an internship could help my résumé and could be converted into a full-time offer. I worked day and night at college and gave my 100%. Working so hard on application alongside my course and assignments was pretty stressful. All the computer science students worked and lived on the same campus – it felt competitive, but also motivating.I was often homesick and called my parents daily. I liked hearing about what they had for lunch and dinner, just the basic things.<h2 id="af48b5f8-1d58-4940-a393-2a3efa2f747a">I landed a job with Salesforce</h2>I got an internship with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-ping-pong-work-flexible-2024-7">Salesforce</a> in the summer of 2019 while doing my master's. It was in Washington state. I got to work on a project. I realized it was a great place for engineering and innovation and I really liked the culture. It helped me figure out I wanted to work on the backend side of things, on large scale systems.My manager was a great mentor and when I finished the project, I was offered a full-time role on the technical team that aligned with my interests. It was based in the Bay Area.I felt so relieved, and happy that my hard work had finally paid off. Not only could I repay my debt, but I could contribute to a great tech product at Salesforce.<h2 id="8a98083b-2e92-4cf4-85d8-b5f826c379d4">I moved to Silicon Valley</h2>I moved to the Bay Area in February 2020. I realized how much <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-new-york-london-tech-where-to-live-2024-8">tech innovation is happening in the area</a> and how many opportunities there were to build relationships with people in the industry. But I was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moved-to-us-from-india-big-tech-changed-me-2024-7">homesick</a> because I couldn't travel home to India during the pandemic.I managed to pay back my loan in 2020.I've been here for four years, with Salesforce sponsoring my visa. I'm enjoying life in the US and haven't got plans to return to India. I'll figure that out in a couple of years.I'm so grateful I get to work with smart engineers on my team on a daily basis. I've seen an improvement in my problem-solving and communication skills in engineering.Last year, I was able to bring my parents to the US for a holiday. It was a dream for me to show them around all the beautiful places in California. I've grown so much over the last few years both as a software engineer and as a person. Starting from scratch in a new country makes you tough. I'm so glad I invested in myself.For other students who don't have a family background where they know how to figure all this out, if I can achieve my <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-american-dream-gen-zers-flexibility-freedom-individualism-2023-5">American dream</a>, you can too.If you've taken a significant career risk and would like to share your story, email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:ehopkins@businessinsider.com">ehopkins@businessinsider.com</a>.

I moved to the US from India and took out a $59K loan to follow my dream of landing a job in Big Tech. My risk paid off. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This year, the world made several major achievements in the race to space. </li><li>They included SpaceX sending its most powerful rocket to space and India reaching the moon. </li></ul>Every year, space agencies and private companies move closer to making us a multi-planetary species, breaking barriers along the way.This year was no exception. 2023 saw groundbreaking rocket launches, unprecedented lunar missions, and remarkable scientific discoveries.Ahead of the new year, here's everything you need to know to catch up.<h2>1. SpaceX's Starship soared toward space twice – and blew up both times</h2><div type="image" title="starship rocket launching" height="1596" width="2842" msid="106403268" hostid="261" sizebytes="146050"></div>One of the most long-awaited spaceflight events of the decade took place in 2023, after SpaceX launched its gargantuan Starship mega-rocket in its fully-stacked form for the first time.Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built. Standing at almost 400ft, it is designed to be a workhorse to ferry humans and cargo to and from Mars. It could also play a crucial role in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-launch-crucial-nasa-moon-return-sls-2023-3">NASA's return to the moon</a>.Elon Musk's SpaceX had previously shown it could fly the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-spacex-starship-rocket-exploded-five-times-2023-4">Starship spaceship</a> on its own. But the company had never attempted to launch it on top of its Super Heavy booster — a necessary step to bring the spaceship to outer space.That seal was broken this year, twice. The fully stacked mega-rocket took its maiden flight on April 21.The flight, in some measure, was a success. The rocket cleared the launchpad and flew for a few minutes. But it eventually burst into flames after tumbling out of control. It later came to light that Starship's powerful engines had also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-rocket-crater-concrete-launchpad-upon-liftoff-2023-4">blown a crater</a> in its concrete launchpad.Undeterred, SpaceX modified the rocket and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-launch-rocket-blows-up-explosion-elon-musk-mars-2023-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">flew again</a> on November 18. This time, the spacecraft successfully separated and flew into space, though it burst again within <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-launch-rocket-blows-up-explosion-elon-musk-mars-2023-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">seconds of reaching its apex</a>.<h2>2. Private space companies made waves</h2><div type="image" title="A photomontage shows Terran 1 ready to launch on its launchpad next to a picture of the rocket's trajectory after launch." height="1000" width="2000" msid="106403270" hostid="261" sizebytes="73662"></div>It was a big year for other spaceflight companies as well.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/relativity-space-3d-printed-rocket-mars-musk-spacex-bezos-launch-2023-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">Relativity Space</a> showed the capability of its monstrous 3D printers by launching and flying a rocket that was made of 85% printed materials. Terran 1 successfully separated from its first stage but didn't quite make it to orbit.The company now aims to develop an even bigger rocket, called Terran R, in a bid to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.relativityspace.com/press-release/2022/7/19/impulse-space-and-relativity-space-announce-first-commercial-mission-to-mars">beat Musk to Mars</a>. While Relativity will keep pushing its rocket development, its main purpose is to demonstrate the power of its 3D printers, which could one day be used to create custom equipment for Martian settlers, the company CEO Tim Ellis previously told Business Insider.Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin got a much-needed vote of confidence from NASA. In May, it became the second private company, after SpaceX, to land the agency's coveted contract to develop tech to land astronauts on the moon. The company was awarded $3.4 billion.The firm was also awarded the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) NASA contract, which means New Glenn, a heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle in development by Blue Origin, could fly a research payload to Mars on its first flight.SpaceX also beat a record that it had set only last year.By October, the company had launched 74 orbital missions, up from its previous record of 62 in 2022.The firm aims to launch 100 flights by the end of 2023, Bill Gerstenmaier, a senior SpaceX official, said on October 18 during a hearing of the U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on Space and Science, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/spacex-launch-144-missions-2024">per Space.com.</a>He added that next year it would aim for 12 flights per month, or a mission every three days or less, per Space.com.<h2>3. China got serious about the moon</h2>China once again demonstrated its precise spaceflight engineering capabilities, reporting it had reached orbit with a rocket fueled<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-beats-spacex-blue-origin-orbit-methane-rocket-2023-7?r=US&amp;IR=T"> with methalox,</a> a composite liquid fuel of methane and oxygen, in July.In doing so, the country beat several US companies trying to get methalox-fueled rockets to orbit, including SpaceX and Blue Origin.<div type="image" title="Chinese LandSpace's Zhuque-2 rocket is seen on its launchpad at night" height="1290" width="2000" msid="106403271" hostid="261" sizebytes="104158"></div>The country this year continued to set aggressive timelines for its space program, announcing it could <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-to-build-moon-station-five-years-lunar-soil-bricks-2023-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">build a space station</a> on the moon within five years, and put boots on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-moon-mission-astronauts-by-2030-2023-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">lunar soil by 2030.</a><h2>4. Russia fell behind on its lunar ambitions</h2>Meanwhile, Russia's lunar aspirations were dealt a blow this year.Roscosmos attempted to beat nations like China, the USA, Japan, and India by aiming to be the first to land a robotic mission near the south pole of the moon, a strategically important site for upcoming lunar missions.The nation was attempting to revive its long-dormant lunar program, which hadn't landed on the moon <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-russia-falling-behind-us-china-in-moon-space-race-2023-9?r=US&amp;IR=T">since the collapse of the Soviet Union</a>.But after a successful launch in August, Roscosmos's Luna-25 probe broke contact with Earth and spun out of control before <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-attempt-land-moon-ends-in-disaster-luna-25-2023-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">crashing into the moon.</a><h2>5. Where Russia failed, India thrived — a step that puts them in pole position in the space race</h2>India surprised the world in August when it became <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-india-attempt-first-ever-moon-landing-2023-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">the first nation</a> to land a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon, and only the fourth country to ever land on the moon.Chandrayaan-3's dog-sized rover, released by the spacecraft a few days after it landed, collected crucial information about the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-vikram-lunar-lander-moon-discoveries-2023-9?r=US&amp;IR=T">lunar soil</a> before shutting down in September.<div type="image" title="image of the lander on the moon" height="1024" width="1024" msid="106403273" hostid="261" sizebytes="123486"></div>"It definitely puts them on the international stage as an emerging space power," Robert Braun, head of space exploration at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, previously told Business Insider.<h2>6. Europe tried to catch up</h2>The UK attempted the first launch from British soil from its new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-orbit-uk-space-launch-fail-rocket-mission-spaceport-photos-2023-1">Spaceport Cornwall</a> in Newquay in January. But celebrations were cut short when Virgin Orbit's rocket failed to reach orbit. This was a blow to the spaceport as Virgin Orbit, its only listed customer, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-orbit-bankruptcy-protection-richard-branson-space-launch-funding-2023-4">closed down shortly after.</a>This misfire is a symptom of a bigger issue at stake. The European Space Agency's (ESA's) independent access to space has been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/14b060df-4cfc-4494-a3d2-2af57dc6fa2a">shrinking steadily</a>.ESA has been facing fire for the delay in its heavy-lift <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/55619674-9ca3-478f-9c5a-d3a7525ccac7">Ariane 6 development</a> and the recent failures of its newest rocket, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/vega-c-failure-rocket-nozzle-flaw-investigation-report">Vega-C</a>. This has left the European agency in an "acute launcher crisis" after the retirement of Ariane 5 in July, ESA head Josef Aschbacher <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/holistic-approach-launchers-exploration-europe-josef-aschbacher/">said</a>.The UK's newly-developed spaceports are part of a bigger push to expand commercial launching capability in the area. European countries have been investing in building continental spaceports to complement ESA's launchpad in French Guiana. The first EU mainland spaceport was inaugurated in Sweden's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/first-european-mainland-orbital-spaceport-swedish-rocket-range">Arctic Circle</a> in January. An orbital spaceport was opened in <a target="_blank" href="https://spacenews.com/norway-opens-andoya-spaceport/">Andøya, Norway</a>, in November.In announcing the Swedish spaceport, EU president <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pressclub.be/press-releases/speech-by-president-von-der-leyen-at-the-inauguration-of-the-esrange-spaceport/">Ursula van der Leyen</a> foreshadowed a "change to the way we 'do space' in Europe," promising more support for small space firms and private investors.Europe's private spaceflight ambitions did get a welcome boost in October when the bloc's first fully private rocket, a single-stage rocket called Miura-1 designed by Spanish firm PLDSpace, took its first flight.The rocket failed to reach orbit but provided precious data that the firm hopes will help them push the development of its two-stage reusable rocket Muira-5, which could launch as early as 2025, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/pld-space-first-launch-miura-1-rocket">Space.com reported.</a>

From Elon Musk's giant Starship rocket to India's spectacular moon landing, 2023 was an epic year in space

<div type="image" title="For the unversed, trading in futures and options can be akin to setting their hard-earned money on fire" height="900" width="1200" msid="114064202" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;For the unversed, trading in futures and options can be akin to setting their hard-earned money on fire&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Once upon a time, there thrived a wild, wild land. Here, it was all about super high monetary stakes, lightning-fast trade deals, and bucketloads of money shifting hands every single second. This wilderness lured millions of individuals with the promise of super duper high returns. But, at what cost? Welcome to the unforgiving, ultra-risky wild west of <keyword id="19991165" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-equity-markets" source="keywords">Indian equity markets</keyword> called the <keyword id="145718" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Futures-and-Options" source="Orion">futures and options</keyword>. Here, everyone seems to just fly right through the bright red-flagged warnings of financial risks to earn even a fraction of these promised returns. Most burn themselves in the process, but carry on nevertheless, as if nothing ever happened. <h2>Chasing the cloudy profits</h2>The data conclusively proves that every 9 out of 10 individuals only lost their hard-earned money in this land. But hey, what do the numbers know? Some hide their losses out of shame, some out of fear. The proponents, meanwhile, proudly boast unusually high returns on their investments, some open social media channels while others encourage their friends and family to take the plunge. Naturally, news of this unstoppable and humongous en-masse migration to the F&amp;O (futures and options) town has reached sheriff <keyword id="19901201" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SEBI" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="SEBI" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="SEBI">SEBI</keyword>, galvanising them into action. After all, it was time to put a leash on this madness and save the common man. The inhabitants of this town doubled in the last 2 years, from 51 lakh in FY22 to 96 lakh in FY24—99.8% of whom were small and mid-income traders. But profits? Well, that's a different, rather completely absent story. <h2>Que Sera Sera, much?</h2>A recent report by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) that studied profits and losses made by traders in the equity derivatives segment between FY22-24 exposed the mad mania of futures and options trading in India, especially since the pandemic. Per the report, 91.1% of individual traders, or about 73 lakh traders had only lost money trading in futures and options in FY24. Between FY 22-24, over 1 crore traders, or about 92.8% of individual traders, had lost Rs 2 lakh each. But once bitten, twice shy? Well, not in this case. More than 75% of individuals, who had only made losses trading in F&amp;O in FY22 and FY23, continued to trade vigorously in FY24 as well, without any changes in the bottom line, which remained deep in red and negative. So, then all these traders must be uber-rich, with tons of cash and not much care to spare? Nope. 76% of traders in the F&amp;O space in FY24 had an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh. 2 years ago, their share stood at 71%. And their choice of poison? Options! In FY24, 60% of traders made losses trading in futures, but a whopping 91.5% burnt their funds trading in options. Mind you, futures are riskier than options. With futures, which require significant capital investment, the buyer and seller both are contractually bound to adhere to the pre-determined strike price of the futures or options contract, irrespective of whether the prevailing prices are higher or lower (and thus, resulting in losses for either the buyer or seller). With options, since this adherence ain't necessary, individuals end up taking debt to take highly leveraged positions while trading here. <h2>Scale of the explosion</h2>Anyone who trades even infrequently will tell you that a demat account is the mitochondria or powerhouse of the trading cell. As of August 2024, India had over 17.1 crore <keyword id="20957284" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="demat-accounts" source="keywords">demat accounts</keyword>, which are a prerequisite for trading in the markets. India is the 9th biggest country in the world, in terms of total demat accounts. Did you know that our demat accounts are at par with the entire population of Bangladesh? Talk about scale! Just 4 years ago, in March 2020, this number was a mere 4 crore. Naturally, the total F&amp;O turnover on both <keyword id="20004725" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NSE" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NSE" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NSE">NSE</keyword> and BSE has hit the roof, and also broken it. As of October 4, 2024, the total futures and options turnover on NSE stood at a massive Rs 4,78,27,27,750.30 crore. Good luck counting the thousands! <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Year </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Total Turnover (Both Futures and Options) (In Rs Crore) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2020-21 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">64,36,03,951.51 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2021-22 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">1,69,52,33,134.47 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2022-23 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">3,82,23,26,468.06 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2023-24 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">7,99,27,67,152.43 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Source : NSE Another metric that underlines the meteoric growth of trading in India is the collection of STT or <keyword id="20930760" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Securities-Transaction-Tax" source="keywords">Securities Transaction Tax</keyword>. As of September 2024, India's STT mop-up had gone past Rs 26,000 crore. Traders have to pay STT whenever they buy or sell any security in the market. So, more trading brings in more STT, and hence, more revenue for the government, so they're not really complaining. After all, this is certainly what they'd call enviable growth. As of August 2023, our STT collection stood at about Rs 21,599 crores. And in FY20-21, India's STT collection had been Rs 16,000 crore. If only our salaries also managed to grow at this rate! <h2>So, what's happening?</h2>Two things. One, it's the big bulls who are raking in all the moolah. And it's the younger lot (those aged under 30) who are propping them up for this. In FY24, 43% of individual traders in the market were less than 30 years of age. In just one year, this number has swelled by 12 percentage points from just 31% of individual traders. But who says ageing is bad? Wrinkles and silver hair seemingly have a propensity of incurring lesser losses in the market. In FY24, only 79% of traders aged above 60 years made losses, as compared to 93% of those aged below 30. Small and mid-income traders, which make up 98% of the total trader base, witnessed average losses per person of Rs 65,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh in FY24 in futures and options, respectively. The winner here? Clearly, the big bulls, who declared an annual income of over Rs 1 crore, ended up with average profits of Rs 96,000 per person this year. <h2>What’s the sheriff up to?</h2>The government has finally swung into action, hiking the STT rate for F&amp;O during this year’s budget. Effective October 1, 2024, the STT on futures stands at 0.02%, up from 0.0125%. For options, it was upped to 0.1% versus 0.0625% previously. Small margins, but huge impact oncoming. Says Puneet Sharma- CEO and Fund Manager at Whitespace Alpha, “SEBI aims to enhance market stability while safeguarding investor interests, reflecting the regulator's intent to balance risk management with market participation”. But this might come with its own share of challenges, too. “Stricter norms around leverage, transparency, and capital adequacy could limit the ability of investors to determine their own risk appetite, thereby stifling innovation in trading strategies. Over-regulation in an environment that thrives on strategic flexibility and creativity could dampen the market’s dynamism, affecting India's competitiveness in the global derivatives landscape”, he observes. SEBI recently came out with a set of guidelines that aim to thwart <keyword id="19972907" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-investors" source="keywords">retail investors</keyword>' participation in futures and options and hinder them from taking undue risks. Here's a quick recap of what's to come for the residents of the F&amp;O town Margin Requirements: To battle the high volatility and chaos which is generally seen on expiry days(i.e the last mandated date, post which an option becomes invalid), SEBI will put in place an extreme loss margin (ELM) of 2% for all open short options on the day of expiry. Translation? Traders will need to pony up more cash upfront, leaving them with fewer funds to take on risky bets. It ain't a choice: No more of one expiry every single day! Going ahead, an exchange like BSE or NSE will just be able to offer weekly expiries, that too, only on one benchmark index, as opposed to an entire buffet it currently offers. At present, NSE offers weekly options contracts for its financial index, bank and midcap indices. But say goodbye to this, and hello to derivatives on only 1 index per exchange. Raising the bar: Effective November 30, 2024, the minimum contract value for index derivatives will be upped to Rs 15 lakh, from the present Rs 5-10 lakh. The hope is that by making it ultra-expensive to enter these trades, investors will be dissuaded from taking on risky trades. Pay upfront: Starting February 2025, those trading in options will have to pay the entire options premium upfront, even before their trades are executed. This is because options generally carry very high leverage, and paying a significant sum upfront can force traders to think twice. Invigilation Pro Max: Starting April 1 2025, to make sure that the number of positions for equity index derivatives does not slyly slip over the mandated limit, especially on expiry days when trade volumes are huge, the exchanges will have to take a minimum of 4 position snapshots randomly. The question is, will these injections of sobriety be enough to calm down the steroid-fed bull of the futures and options market in India? Well, only time and market turnover will tell! For more insights into the financial markets and business news, stay tuned to our site and social media handles. And don’t forget to subscribe to Business Insider India’s newsletters for your weekly dose of Simply Put! Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. We recommend readers consult certified, qualified and registered advisors for professional and personalised financial advice.

SIMPLY PUT: SEBI is on a mission to take on the wild, wild west of futures and options in India. Here’s why, what, and how

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SpaceX made history as it returned its Super Heavy booster to its launch site in Texas.</li><li>For Elon Musk, it was a chance to prove the doubters wrong — and he did.</li></ul>It was a moment for the history books. As <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-fifth-flight-test-how-to-watch-2024-10">SpaceX's Starship</a> took flight for the fifth time from its launch site in southern Texas on Sunday, the marvel of seeing the most powerful rocket ever soar into the skies was more than matched by the landing.The Super Heavy — the first-stage booster used to launch the nearly 400-foot-tall spacecraft — was fully recovered as it descended into the chopstick-like arms of the "Mechazilla" tower, from which it had taken off about seven minutes prior before reaching the edge of space.For Elon Musk, this was a seminal moment: Not only had the company he founded in 2002 pulled off an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-spacex-starship-launch-five-huge-deal-space-travel-2024-10">engineering world-first</a> that seemed implausible a few years ago, but it had also given him a chance to prove to doubters that he could deliver on cosmic-scale ambitions.The billionaire, who has repeatedly talked of his dreams to take humanity to Mars and beyond, has long touted the need for re-useable rockets to achieve that goal — for both cost and technical reasons — while being upfront about how difficult it is to create them.The widely watched catch was undoubtedly a victory. But as Musk continues to lead sprawling companies with ambitions to dominate everything from space to AI to autonomous cars, investors, employees, and regulators alike are keeping a close eye on how many other big dreams will translate to reality.<div type="image" title="SpaceX Starship." height="4024" width="6048" msid="114234865" hostid="261" sizebytes="369268"></div>At a National Press Club gathering in 2011, Musk pointed out that an orbit-class rocket that could make life multi-planetary was a "very tough engineering problem" due to the strength of Earth's gravity.That didn't phase him too much. He told the audience that he could solve the engineering problem and that SpaceX was "going to try to do it."Some 13 years on, the rest is history. SpaceX is now highly accustomed to landing rocket boosters, but never before at this scale on land.In doing so, Musk made a huge leap forward in his mission to create large rockets that can be reused, and that may one day carry crew and cargo to Mars and beyond.SpaceX employee Dan Huot captured the feelings of several of his colleagues with a <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/danhuot/status/1845444237720158660">post-launch post to X</a>: "I'm crying right now."And Musk earned online applause from legions of Starship fans, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai. <h2 id="3c1209ba-d28b-45f3-b6fe-e133137e1c4e">Questions over ability to delivery</h2>As Musk's corporate empire has expanded since founding SpaceX 22 years ago — he became Tesla's CEO in 2008 and led a dramatic <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter">$44 billion takeover of Twitter</a> in 2022 — he has made a habit of making big promises that seem fiendishly difficult to accomplish.(Musk also founded Neuralink, which is testing a brain implant, and xAI, a startup building AI to accelerate scientific discovery.)In 2019, for instance, Musk said Tesla would "have more than 1 million robotaxis on the road" in 2020, a deadline that sailed by without the company putting an autonomous taxi on the road.His eventual Cybercab launch, which came last week at Tesla's Robotaxi Day, failed to impress investors. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-price-drops-after-robotaxi-event-disappoints-wall-street-2024-10">Tesla's stock dropped as much as 10%</a> the day after the event, knocking roughly $67 billion from its market capitalization in the process.Wall Street analysts attributed the decline partly to skepticism over Tesla's ability to deliver fully autonomous driving.<div type="image" title="Elon Musk showed off Tesla's new Cybercab on a closed lot at Warner Bros Studios." height="1234" width="2180" msid="114234861" hostid="261" sizebytes="80188"></div>And plans to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-x-everything-app-twitter-details-2022-10">turn Twitter into an "everything app"</a> — one that keeps users coming back to use a range of digital services like payments, job searching, and more — under its X brand seem to have struggled.Musk's loud <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-political-beliefs-public-stances-timeline-republican-desantis-2022-6">embrace of right-wing politics</a> could work against him. On Thursday, the California Coastal Commission rejected a request for more frequent <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk">SpaceX</a> launches.Commissioner Gretchen Newsom expressed concerns over Musk's political posts, including about the Federal Emergency Management Agency's recent hurricane responses and <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-frat-boy-culture-workers-reportedly-planned-drinking-games-email-2024-7">working conditions at SpaceX</a>.<h2 id="7ea8d5e5-4c3a-4e90-9f43-81ba3e5895b1">'Never bet against Elon'</h2>Musk's latest feat at SpaceX shows he still has the ability to accomplish things that would have once seemed impossible.On a 2021 episode of the Lex Fridman podcast, Musk described the difficulty of the task he had set himself. "We're talking about catching the largest flying object ever made on a giant tower with chopstick arms. It's like Karate Kid with the fly, but much bigger," he said, referencing a scene from the 1984 film in which the main character uses a pair of chopsticks to catch a moving fly."Bananas stuff," as he put it then.The billionaire will have the opportunity to prove that he can pull off more extraordinary feats soon enough.Next year, SpaceX will aim to complete a crewed orbit of the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis II mission. In 2026, it is slated to be involved in the Artemis III mission, which aims to land humans on the Moon.Can he help achieve something that hasn't been done since 1972, the last time humans landed on the Moon? As his old pal Peter Thiel once said, "Never bet against Elon."

Elon Musk faces doubts about whether he can still deliver. Starship stuck the landing.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>India's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-cube-discovered-by-chinese-rover-is-just-a-rock-2022-1">moon rover</a> made its first scientific observation near the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-moon-landings-on-lunar-south-pole-crashed-2023-8">lunar south pole</a>.</li><li>The 57-pound rover is called Pragyaan — a Hindu name meaning one who possesses wisdom.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-india-attempt-first-ever-moon-landing-2023-8">India made history</a> by becoming the first country to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-plans-send-humans-to-moon-celebrates-lunar-probe-success-2023-8">land successfully</a> near the lunar south pole. And its lunar rover wasted no time in rolling out to make its first scientific observations. On Tuesday, the Indian Space Research Organization announced on its website that the moon rover had <a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/LIBSResults.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> the presence of sulphur. And preliminary analyses also suggest the presence of aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, and titanium. Suffice it to say, the rover's been busy. This adorable rover is called Pragyaan — a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oppenheimer-famous-quote-become-death-destroyer-worlds-from-hindu-scripture-2023-7">Hindu</a> name meaning one who possesses greater knowledge and wisdom.Pragyaan weighs 57 pounds, about the size of a small German shepherd or bull terrier, and it's spending two weeks driving <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-moon-landings-on-lunar-south-pole-crashed-2023-8">where no robot or human has been before</a>.Pragyaan's science could be critical for learning how to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-scientists-discover-moons-hidden-water-stores-2020-10">mine moon water</a> — a goal every moon-minded nation is eyeing.The rover may be small and cute, but India's new moon mission "definitely puts them on the international stage as an emerging space power," Robert Braun, head of space exploration at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, told Insider.<h2>What will India's moon rover do next?</h2>It's equipped with a laser and an alpha-particle beam to help it study the composition of the lunar south pole region, which is of particular interest.<div type="image" title="Image of India's moon lander and rover in lab on Earth." height="483" width="725" msid="102996626" hostid="261"></div>The lunar south pole is thought to be the most <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/moon-south-pole-has-more-than-water-according-to-nasa-scientists/articleshow/70356565.cms">water-rich region on the moon</a>. That's critical since water ice could be mined to produce breathable oxygen for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-artemis-humans-to-live-moon-by-2030-says-official-2022-11">future crewed lunar bases</a>, as well as hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel that could propel <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/buzz-aldrin-moon-should-be-launch-pad-for-mars-2018-6">future missions to Mars</a> and beyond.The rover will also use its RAMBHA and ILSA payloads on board to study the lunar atmosphere as well as dig up samples for additional analysis of the surface's composition, per <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/chandrayaan-3-rover-will-leave-a-mark-of-india-on-moon-surface/articleshow/101765194.cms?from=mdr">Times of India</a>.But it was the rover's Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument that ultimately made the first-ever measurements of the lunar south pole region's composition, ISRO reported. The laser fires intense pulses at the lunar surface, which generates an extremely hot plasma.That's where a trick of physics comes in handy: Each element on the periodic table emits a unique set of wavelengths of light. Scientists can study the light from the plasma to identify those wavelength sets and determine the chemical make-up of the stuff on the moon.<h2>A moment for the history books</h2>India is the fourth country — after Russia, the US, and China — to land on the moon."It's a huge achievement for the whole nation," Braun said. "Last time they got to the playoffs, if you will, and this time they won the Super Bowl.""Everyone in the space community is joining with the nation of India, and their talented engineers and scientists, and celebrating their success and this achievement," he added.Correction: August 28, 2023 — An earlier version of this article misstated Robert Braun's title. He is head of space exploration at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, not head of a Space Exploration Center there. This story has been updated. It was originally published on August 23, 2023.Editor's note September 1, 2023: This article has been updated to clarify that India's spacecraft landed in the lunar south pole region, not on the point of the lunar south pole.

India's adorable, dog-sized moon rover did its first science on the moon by shooting powerful laser beams at the surface

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-india-attempt-first-ever-moon-landing-2023-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">India landed the first spacecraft near the moon's south pole</a>, after it and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-space-program-in-decline-china-leaping-forward-us-intel-2023-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Russia</a> both crashed there on prior missions.</li><li>Landing on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">the moon</a>, Mars, or any other space object, is one of the most complex parts of spaceflight.</li></ul>India landed a small robot near <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">the moon's</a> south pole on August 23, becoming the first nation to touch down at the strategic spot and the fourth nation to ever land on the moon.The feat comes just days after Russia crash-landed there, and four years after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-india-israel-failed-moon-landings-failed-final-descent-2019-9">India's first attempt crashed</a> into the lunar south pole region."Spaceflight is hard, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-releases-mars-landing-video-perseverance-rover-2021-2">landing on another planetary surface</a> is among the hardest things that we do in spaceflight. So it's the hardest of the hard," Robert Braun, head of space exploration at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, told Insider.Braun has worked on landing and descent teams for multiple <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-landing-nasa-perseverance-rover-touches-down-in-jezero-crater-2021-2">NASA missions to Mars</a>, including the Mars Polar Lander, which lost communication during its descent and was presumed crashed."It's not that people didn't try. It's not that people didn't do their all. It's not that they weren't supported. They probably were," he added.There are countless tiny reasons a landing might fail, but in these cases, it boils down to a simple reality: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-launches-mission-beat-us-india-moon-south-pole-rover-2023-8">Russia and India</a> were trying to do something incredibly difficult, for the first time, in a place nobody has done it before.India's success, especially in light of the much <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-asia-india-66576580">better-funded</a> Russia's failure, is a huge triumph.<h2>Why Russia was shooting for the moon</h2><div type="image" title="rocket launching into cloudy blue skies" height="1500" width="1999" msid="102993123" hostid="261"></div>A lot was riding on the Russian mission, called Luna-25. It was Russia's first attempt to land on the moon in decades, since the Soviet Union fell.It was the country's first bid at the lunar south pole, which is especially valuable space real estate because of its frozen-water reserves. Moon-minded nations are eyeing those reserves, because the water can be broken down into oxygen and hydrogen. That can serve as fuel to launch <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/buzz-aldrin-moon-should-be-launch-pad-for-mars-2018-6">rockets from the moon toward Mars</a>, without the gravity burden of an Earth-based launch.Both the US and China also hope to land near the lunar south pole before the end of the decade.If it had succeeded, Luna-25 was also poised to prove that Russia doesn't need Europe or the US to become a major power in deep space. The European Space Agency was previously a collaborator on the mission, but backed out after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/invasion-of-ukraine-was-putin-intelligence-fiasco-spy-expert-says-2023-8">Russia invaded Ukraine</a> last year.<h2>Landing on the moon for the first time is extra hard</h2><div type="image" title="man sitting in front of microphones holds up gold models of a lunar orbiter and a lander as if play flying them" height="1500" width="2397" msid="102993125" hostid="261"></div>India had never landed on the moon before. The Soviet Union completed its last lunar landing in 1976. That was Luna-24.So Luna-25 is "almost like a first" for Russia, Braun said. Because it's been so long, it's likely that most of the people involved have never participated in a moon mission before.<div type="image" title="surface of moon grey rocky cratered" height="1552" width="2070" msid="102993127" hostid="261"></div>With no prior experience, they must build and program the lander system to push itself out of orbit, point itself in the right direction, and map and assess the ground below as it plummets toward the surface, while continuously re-orienting itself to find a safe spot.Once it's very close to the surface, a lander must slow down and, often, spin around and deploy its legs. Then, once it makes contact with the surface, the system has to be strong enough to withstand the shock."So many of these things are proven out via simulation," Braun said. "It's very hard to make a high-fidelity or an accurate simulation of something you've not experienced."During landing, time is compressed, so every little bit flip, calculation, and robotic movement must happen exactly on time, in the correct order. Any error, any flaw in the hardware or software, could cause a crash.<h2>The moon's dust, rocks, and uneven terrain can interfere</h2><div type="image" title="moon footprint" height="768" width="1024" msid="102993129" hostid="261"></div>The very end of a landing is the hardest part, because the spacecraft starts to interact with the moon's surface, Braun <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-india-israel-failed-moon-landings-failed-final-descent-2019-9">previously told Insider</a>.If a lander's leg hits a boulder, it could tip over and that would be the end of the mission. Lunar dust can even cloud up the instruments and tip the scales toward failure.<h2>The lunar south pole is uniquely hazardous</h2>The very thing that makes the moon's south pole so desirable — the permanently shadowed regions that harbor water ice — also makes it more difficult to land on.<div type="image" title="men in white clothing hold hands up in prayer sitting cross legged in front of cutouts of a white rocket" height="1500" width="2250" msid="102993131" hostid="261"></div>Descent vehicles and landers often use cameras to assess the ground below them in real-time in those final minutes, as they approach the lunar surface. Visibility helps identify boulders and craters they should avoid so they don't tip over.Near the south pole, "they're probably flying through some pretty long shadows, even if they don't land in a shadowed region," Braun said.That doesn't seem to have played a factor in the south-pole attempts so far, but the shadows could menace future moon missions.Also, before India landed there, no nation had ever been to the moon's south pole region. Compared to the equator region, where the Apollo missions landed, it's uncharted territory."Having been a part of both successes and failures at Mars, I learned way more from the failures than from the successes," Braun said. "You pick yourself up, you dust yourself off, you think hard about everything you did right and whatever it is that you and the team did wrong, and you make improvements, and you do better."Correction: August 28, 2023 — An earlier version of this article misstated Robert Braun's title. He is head of space exploration at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, not head of a Space Exploration Center there.Editor's note September 1, 2023: This article has been updated to clarify that India's spacecraft landed in the lunar south pole region, not on the point of the lunar south pole.This story has been updated. It was originally published on August 23, 2023.

Why Russia and India both crashed near the moon's south pole before India nailed the first soft landing there

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Our moon has been our constant companion for billions of years. </li><li>But we're still not sure how it came to be, though scientists have a few theories. </li></ul>With the likes of NASA and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-x-will-display-article-headlines-again-2023-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">Elon Musk</a> vying to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">land on the moon</a> within the next five years, you would think we would know everything about our satellite.But there remain a vast number of unanswered questions, including one of the most fundamental: how did the moon first come to be?That has been surprisingly difficult to answer, and scientists still aren't certain how it happened.But they have theories, the most prominent of which is arguably the most bizarre as it involves a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-moon-formed-collisions-2017-1">theoretical alien planet</a> crashing into the Earth — then disappearing — more than 4 billion years ago.Here are four leading theories of how the<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/invisible-force-earth-creating-water-on-the-moon-study-electrons-2023-9"> moon</a> was formed, and why the secret to uncovering the truth could lie deep within our planet.<h2>The moon wandered by the Earth and was captured into its orbit</h2>According to the capture theory, the moon was wandering through the universe like a giant <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/metal-ball-ocean-harvard-professor-alien-industrial-waste-loeb-spherule-2023-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">asteroid</a>. One day, it passed within the vicinity of Earth and was captured into its orbit, staying with it ever since.This isn't altogether impossible. After all, this is how <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-close-up-photos-mars-moon-deimos-reveal-true-origins-2023-4">Mars</a> is thought to have captured its moons Phobos and Deimos.<div type="image" title="Mars moons" height="125" width="402" msid="105446480" hostid="261" sizebytes="2828"></div>In the case of the Earth, however, the capture theory is very unlikely. One reason is that our moon is very big — almost the size of Mars itself.An object of that size "would be more likely to impact into the planet rather than just to be captured in orbit," Sara Russell, a professor of planetary sciences at the Natural History Museum, told Business Insider.Lunar samples brought back during the Apollo missions put a final nail in that hypothesis.Scientists analyzed the isotope makeup of these samples. Isotopes are forms of atoms that have the same chemical function, but carry a different number of neutrons."We use isotopes as a fingerprint, which are very distinctive," Russell said.When space rocks form independently, it's easy to tell them apart with isotopes. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/relativity-space-3d-printed-rocket-mars-musk-spacex-bezos-launch-2023-3?_gl=1*13p0krb*_ga*MTc3NTE4NzkyNC4xNjg0MTQxMjIx*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcwMDczNDkzNC40NjEuMS4xNzAwNzM0OTM0LjYwLjAuMA..&amp;r=US&amp;IR=T">Mars</a> rock looks different from an Earth rock for instance.But the moon it turns out, is made up of the same isotopes as the Earth."That means they must be genetically linked somehow because every other body in the solar system has got a different isotope signature," she said.<div type="image" title="Pictures taken by a satellite show the moon crossing the Earth." height="554" width="985" msid="105446482" hostid="261" sizebytes="22262"></div><h2>The moon formed alongside the Earth</h2>The accretion hypothesis ties the moon to the birth of the Earth. This theory suggests both objects emerged from the same cosmic cloud of dust around 4.6 billion years ago.The Earth, per that theory, would have been the greedier twin, pulling more material to its side during its early accretion, which led to its bigger size, molten core, and stronger gravity. The moon, then, would have been pulled into Earth's orbit.The problem is that while the moon and the Earth share isotopes, the way they put them together is very different. The moon is made up of much less sodium and iron than the Earth, for instance."You would expect that if it formed from the same cloud, the same mixture of material, it would end up with roughly the same composition, it might just be smaller," said Russel."But actually, it's completely different," she said.<h2>The moon was a glob of material shed by the Earth as it started spinning</h2>Another theory for the formation of our constant companion is not very flattering. This one argues that the moon is just a bit of excess baby fat our Earth shed early on in its life.<div type="image" title="a picture shows the moon showing against the daylight sky behind a mountain ridge." height="693" width="1024" msid="105446484" hostid="261" sizebytes="29464"></div>Per the fission theory, as the Earth started spinning faster, part of its material spun off, and then miraculously stopped exactly where it needed to be to create a body in Earth's orbit.In this case, physics is not on the side of this theory.It's very difficult to shed such a big mass of rock, no matter how quickly the planet was spinning at the time, said Russell."It might happen for an asteroid, but not something as big as the planet," she said.Another issue with that theory is that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">the moon</a> would have been much more likely to fly off toward the sun or fall back to Earth than to stay in orbit.<h2>A Mars-sized planet crashed into the early Earth</h2>That leaves us with one last hypothesis, the giant impact theory. While this hypothesis has the most scientific support, it is arguably the one that requires the biggest leap of the imagination.The theory suggests that around 4.5 billion years ago, a Mars-sized planet called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-planet-inside-earth-explain-where-moon-comes-from-theia-2023-11">Theia</a> crossed paths with a new Earth that had just started accreting.The collision between the two planets created a humongous explosion, 100 million times bigger than the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.<div type="image" title="An animation shows Theia crashing into the moon." height="338" width="600" msid="105446486" hostid="261" sizebytes="6350"></div>Per this theory, the blow was so brutal that Theia kicked some of the Earth's material into space, which eventually turned into the moon. Theia disappeared by melting into the mess of molten rock that would eventually become the Earth and the moon as we know them today.The subtle difference between the Earth and the moon, then, would be explained by Theia grazing the Earth's mantle but avoiding its iron core, which could explain why the moon is so iron-poor, per Russell.The whole process may have taken <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/collision-may-have-formed-the-moon-in-mere-hours-simulations-reveal/">only a few hours</a>, according to NASA.While this sounds far-fetched, thanks to the Apollo samples, it has quickly become the leading theory for how the moon formed."That is one of the absolute triumphs of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apollo-11-facts-about-nasa-moon-landing-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">the Apollo missions</a>," said Russell. "Before Apollo, people honestly had no clue which of these models was the cause of the formation of the moon," she said."Apollo showed clearly that the moon has such great similarities to each other, that they must be somehow linked in some way," she said.Still, the giant-impact theory is not without its issues. We have no idea where Theia came from and the planet left no evidence behind.Another issue is that it's not quite clear why the moon and the Earth would be so similar if they picked up bits of Theia along the way. Models suggest more than 60% of the moon should be made up of Theia, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/19275-moon-formation.html">per Space.com</a>.One possibility is that at the point of impact, Theia mixed in so thoroughly with both the Earth and the moon that these are virtually indistinguishable.Another possibility is that Theia was almost a twin of the Earth, created in the same corner of the solar system.Scientists are working to reconcile these finer points of the giant-impact theory. Modeling can explore the angle at which the planet hit the Earth and how its material mixed in with the Earth's mantle.A recent study suggested that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-planet-inside-earth-explain-where-moon-comes-from-theia-2023-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">continent-sized chunks of an alien world may be hiding deep within our planet</a> — and it could explain the weird structures that appear to be surrounding Earth's core.Hongping Deng, a professor of computational physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, ran computer simulations tracking 100 million virtual particles from the moment Theia may have crashed into the Earth through to millions of years later.Using these simulations, the scientists were able to show that some fragments of Theia — roughly 2% of the whole mass of the Earth —could have survived inside our planet, slowly sinking through the mantle.<div type="image" title="An artist's impression shows an astronaut sitting back while taking a picture of the Earth rising behind the surface of the moon with a smartphone." height="1000" width="2000" msid="105446489" hostid="261" sizebytes="253572"></div><h2>As humans return to the moon, they can bring back precious samples</h2>An upcoming slew of planned missions to the moon, including NASA's Artemis mission to bring astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years, could also offer opportunities to return more samples from the moon."Everyone's really excited about Artemis at the moment and having NASA and ESA, returning to the moon," said Russell."There's loads of stuff that we're gonna find out in the next decade or so," she said.

The mystery of how the moon formed is still puzzling scientists. The secret could lie deep within our planet.

<ul><li>India attempted to soft land on the Moon's South Pole today but lost communication with <keyword id="414120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chandrayaan-2">Chandrayaan 2</keyword>'s lander, Vikram.</li><li>The first phase of the power descent operations went smoothly.</li><li>The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) stated that it lost communication when Vikram was 2.1 kilometers from the lunar surface.</li></ul> The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman had repeatedly stated that the 15 minutes of parabolic descent will be the 'most terrifying' 15 minutes of India's mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan 2. His warning held true as ISRO told communication with Chandrayaan 2's lander, Vikram, in the final moments of the power descent operation. "Vikram lander was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communication was lost. The data is being analysed," stated Sivan after no signals were being relayed from the Moon. First phase of Vikram's descent goes smoothly After seven weeks of travelling through space, Chandrayaan 2's lander — Vikram, started its power descent to the Moon at 1:38am Indian Standard Time (IST), 30 kilometers above the lunar surface. It approached the lunar surface at a speed of 1,640 meters per second around 600 kilometers from the landing site. Two minutes after Vikram starting to drop, ISRO initiated the power descent operation. The first phase of the descent is known as the 'rough breaking phase'. The lander was brought down from 30 kilometers to 7.4 kilometers above the lunar surface. Lasting ten minutes, lander's speed was reduced to 140 meters per second. It required the brute force for all four of Vikram's engines to kill the spacecraft's velocity as it gets closer to the Moon. Vikram manages to slow down even further The second phase of Vikram's descent was the 'altitude and absolute navigation phase' was successfully completed reducing the speed to 86 meters per second over 98 seconds. The lander, at this point, was 5 kilometers from the Moon. Immediately afterwards, the third phase — 'fine breaking phase' — kicked in which was supposed to take the lander even lower to an altitude of around 400 meters. At the end of this phase, Vikram would no longer have any forward moving velocity — it can only perform a vertical descent. Things start to go awry Before the fourth phase of the launch, the 'terminal phase', could kick in — Vikram stopped sending data back to Earth. Faces around the mission control operations room were tense as they awaited confirmation of the landing. At this point, the lander should be at a near zero velocity but the screen keeping tabs on the lander was frozen at 48.59 meters per second. A lot can happen in 15 minutes The landing window was only 15 minutes but there were no signals from Vikram even 10 minutes after the deadline passed. An ISRO executive was heard briefing Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the ISRO headquarters “was receiving signals only from the landing station.” ISRO is yet to confirm whether or not it was able to re-establish communication with the lander. Even though the lander and rover might not be able to send data back to Earth, the orbiter is still circling the Moon with its many high-tech instruments on board to collect information.

You Searched For "how did india land on moon" and got 11 results

The first private company just landed on the moon. Here's how they did it.

Insider

Space photos from 5 recent moon-landing missions show how tiny engineering errors can cause big problems, like crashing or landing sideways

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

How India landed on the moon and flew to Mars at a fraction of the cost of NASA and Russia missions

Morgan McFall-Johnsen,Maiya F…

I moved to the US from India and took out a $59K loan to follow my dream of landing a job in Big Tech. My risk paid off.

Ella Hopkins

From Elon Musk's giant Starship rocket to India's spectacular moon landing, 2023 was an epic year in space

Marianne Guenot

SIMPLY PUT: SEBI is on a mission to take on the wild, wild west of futures and options in India. Here’s why, what, and how

Ira Alok Puranik

Elon Musk faces doubts about whether he can still deliver. Starship stuck the landing.

Hasan Chowdhury

India's adorable, dog-sized moon rover did its first science on the moon by shooting powerful laser beams at the surface

Sonam Sheth,Morgan McFall-Joh…

Why Russia and India both crashed near the moon's south pole before India nailed the first soft landing there

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

The mystery of how the moon formed is still puzzling scientists. The secret could lie deep within our planet.

Marianne Guenot

Moon landing drama: Play by play of ISRO losing communication with Chandrayaan 2's lander

Prabhjote Gill

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides