MOON

Chairman of India's space agency S Somanath said a crew of two to three astronauts will be part of India's maiden manned space mission.

Scientists proposed a novel idea on Wednesday that could solve two of the world's mysteries at once -- one that passes over our heads every night, and one that sits far below our feet.

S Somanath, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, said India is eyeing the Earth's planetary neighbors, Venus and Mars, for further exploration and also has other projects in the works.

The Indian Space Research Organisation attempted to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover but received no signal.

The mission is called the "moon sniper" because it aims at landing within 100 meters (roughly 330 feet) of its target on the lunar surface. If successful, this could be a game-changer because it is far less than the conventional range of several kilometers.

Countries like China, India, Russia and the U.S. are strong contenders in the space race for extraterrestrial resources.

The rover also detected the presence of aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen during its research on the lunar surface.

Japan's shot for the moon comes after India's Chandrayaan-3 mission saw a successful soft landing on the moon last week.

The Pragyan rover, weighing about 57 lbs (26kg), traveled to the moon in the belly of the Vikram lander to collect data that will be sent back to Earth for further analysis.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission aims at finding insights into lunar water exploration, which could eventually help in lunar mining and also the discovery of extraterrestrial resources beyond.

A successful soft landing on the lunar south pole would put India in the elite space club of nations that have managed to achieve a soft landing on the moon. The U.S., China, and the former Soviet Union are currently the only members of that club.

Russia's plan to launch its lunar lander on Friday is the latest in an international push to return to the Moon that includes the world's top powers but also new players.

"There is no danger that they interfere with each other or collide. There is enough space for everyone on the moon," the Russian space agency said.

"This is the third time in succession that ISRO has successfully inserted its spacecraft into the lunar orbit, apart from doing so into the Martian orbit," the space agency noted in a statement.

CoinGecko's CTO and COO commented that while the platform hasn't said anything yet about its plans, Community Points might be "something to monitor in the coming months."

The twin-rocket plan includes sending a pair of launch vehicles — one with a moon surface lander and another carrying the astronauts — into lunar orbit, said Zhang Hailian, deputy chief engineer with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The Da Vinci glow before and April and May New Moons are said to be the best for 2023.

South Korea recently became the seventh country to explore the Moon.

The HAKUTO-R mission is well on its way to make a landing on the Moon.

Commander Moonikin Campos, Zohar and Helga had a bit of a fun exchange on Twitter.

The photos show the Moon's many deep craters and meteor and asteroid impact marks.