The race to go to the moon again is really heating up. Advanced technology is making it possible for many more countries to launch rockets that can reach the moon and orbit it. When the United States started their moon program it took tremendous resources to develop a program that would be capable of such a feat. At that time the only other country that could have done this was the old Soviet Union. They had the talent and they had the rockets, but unfortunately for them, they just couldn't maintain their lead over us. I am sure if they would have continued their program, they would have gotten to the moon in just a little while after us. It is also true that they experienced setbacks near the end of the program that slowed down their progress. We had setbacks too, like the fire in the Apollo capsule that killed three of our astronauts, but we were able to catch up on the lost time.

Today it is possible for any country with enough money to buy advanced rocket technology. That rocket technology is more than half of the battle. This was something that we had to develop from scratch. Even the mighty United States is buying rocket technology from Russia because they have the best rocket engines. Their engines are very powerful and use less parts. Less parts equal more reliability. Once you have a rocket that is capable of reaching the moon, you have the first step in manned space travel to the moon. This allows you to launch satellites around the moon and take readings and such. This fact has not been lost on several countries and it is predicted that the space around the moon is about to get very busy. The earth has over 500 known satellites orbiting around it and who knows how many secret ones? Presently we know that China, Japan, India, Russia and the U.S. Have launched satellites around the moon and others are thinking about it and working towards this goal.

Launching satellites around the moon is not only a scientific event, it is also perceived as a prestigious event, much as owing nuclear weapons is conceived as raising the status of a country. The Japanese launched a satellite called Kaguya and this satellite is not one satellite, but three independent satellites that contain the most advanced instruments ever sent to the moon. A NASA scientist has described Kaguya this way, "Kaguya is the Cadillac of missions right now. It is huge, consisting of three separate satellites, and has excellent instruments. It will do a lot of particles and fields work that no other currently planned orbiter will do. Plus it will be able to train all its instruments toward the same spot on the moon simultaneously."

The Chinese satellite is called Chang'e-1. It is capable of taking three dimensional images of the entire surface of the moon. The Chinese do not plan to end their moon missions. There is a Chang'e-2 on the drawing board along with a Chang'e-3. So far the date China plans to launch Chang'e-2 is scheduled for sometime in 2009. We can assume that Chang'e-2 will be more advanced than Chang'e-1 and that Chang'e-3 will probably be more advanced than both. India is a newcomer to moon satellites. It launched its first moon satellite on October 22, 2008. It is called Chandrayan Pratham. This means First Journey To The Moon. This is another satellite that is programmed to send back high-resolution photos of the surface of the moon. Along with the high resolution cameras are X-ray and Gamma-ray spectrometers. These will be used to create an accurate moon map. Aboard are also payloads from other countries including the United States and some European countries such as Germany, Britain, Sweden and others. India is going to share all the data it gathers with NASA and other space agencies.

The question that nobody is really addressing in this country is will we be able to beat these countries back to the moon and is there really any reason that we should worry about this? I guess it depends on who is thinking about this answer. If you ask the U.S. military this question, I am sure that they would tell you that it is a matter of national security and that we must beat everyone else there, although when you really think about it, the moon is a pretty big place and there is plenty room for everyone. I would hope that it would be treated much in the same manner as Antarctica. Different communities exist there in peaceful harmony and there is absolutely no reason short of wanting the moon for a missile base to threaten earth, that this shouldn't be. We have to prevent the moon from becoming weaponized.

Russia announced its plans for the moon for the next three decades. These plans call for sending people to the moon by 2025 and establishing a base on the moon by 2032. The Russians have joined with the European Space Agency in simulating a manned mission to Mars. We are getting ready to launch a mission to the moon this fall and officially we are told that this is an advanced mapping mission. The purpose of this map is said to be to select safe sites for future landings. The map will be digital. Britain has said that they want to send a mission to the moon before the end of the decade. Germany plans on doing so by 2013. Italy is also planning a mission to the moon.

The second race to the moon is on and this time there are a lot more players. Will this turn out to be a race for the moon's minerals? Will the countries of the world start to work on some way of transporting minerals from the moon to the earth cheaply? One never knows how something like this will turn out. It is beginning to look like the moon will contain bases from every advanced country on earth. Let's hope that they can all get along.