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India set to launch historic Moon mission Chandrayaan-3

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India is set to launch its third Moon mission, aiming to be the first to land near its little-explored south pole.

The Chandrayaan-3 craft with an orbiter, lander and a rover is due to lift off at 14:35 on Friday (09:05 GMT) from Sriharikota space center.

The lander is due to reach the Moon on 23-24 August, space officials said.

If successful, India will be only the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, following the US, the former Soviet Union and China.

The third in India’s programme of lunar exploration, Chandrayaan-3 is expected to build on the success of its earlier Moon missions.

It comes 13 years after the country’s first Moon mission in 2008, which carried out “the first and most detailed search for water on the lunar surface and established the Moon has an atmosphere during daytime”, said Mylswamy Annadurai, project director of Chandrayaan-1.

Chandrayaan-2 – which also comprised an orbiter, a lander and a rover – was launched in July 2019 but it was only partially successful. Its orbiter continues to circle and study the Moon even today, but the lander-rover failed to make a soft landing and crashed during touchdown. It was because of “a last-minute glitch in the braking system”, explained Mr Annadurai.

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chief Sreedhara Panicker Somanath has said they have carefully studied the data from the last crash and carried out simulation exercises to fix the glitches.

Chandrayaan-3, which weighs 3,900kg and cost 6.1bn rupees ($75m; £58m), has the “same goals” as its predecessor – to ensure a soft-landing on the Moon’s surface, he added.

The lander (called Vikram, after the founder of Isro) weighs about 1,500kg and carries within its belly the 26kg rover which is named Pragyaan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.

After Friday’s lift-off, the craft will take about 15 to 20 days to enter the Moon’s orbit. Scientists will then start reducing the rocket’s speed over the next few weeks to bring it to a point which will allow a soft landing for Vikram.

If all goes to plan, the six-wheeled rover will then eject and roam around the rocks and craters on Moon’s surface, gathering crucial data and images to be sent back to Earth for analysis.

“The rover is carrying five instruments which will focus on finding out about the physical characteristics of the surface of the Moon, the atmosphere close to the surface and the tectonic activity to study what goes on below the surface. I’m hoping we’ll find something new,” Mr Somanath told Mirror Now.

(BBC News)

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American Cardinal elected as new Pope: Pope Leo XIV

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Following a 02-day papal conclave, American Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected as the new Pope yesterday (May 08) evening, Vatican time.

At 69, Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as the 267th Pope, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.

He becomes the first American to ascend to the papacy in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIV now assumes spiritual leadership of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

The election follows the death of His Holiness Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21 at the age of 88 at his residence in Casa Santa Marta, Vatican City, a day after participating in Easter Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.

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Auction of gems linked to Buddha postponed

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The Indian government is seeking to repatriate ancient gem relics linked to the Buddha’s remains after halting their sale at an auction in Hong Kong.
Sotheby’s postponed the sale of the Piprahwa gems, due on Wednesday, after the ministry of culture threatened to take legal action against the auction house in Indian and Hong Kong courts and through international bodies “for violations of cultural heritage laws”.

In a statement, the ministry said it would discuss repatriation of the gems to India with Sotheby’s and the sellers, three descendants of William Claxton Peppé, a British colonial landowner who, in 1898, excavated the gems on his estate in northern India.

In a legal notice issued to Sotheby’s on Monday, India’s ministry of culture told the auction house that the gems should be treated as the sacred body of the Buddha and it would be “participating in continued colonial exploitation” if the sale went ahead.

The letter, posted on the ministry’s social media accounts, added that Peppé’s great-grandson, Chris Peppé, a Los Angeles-based TV director and film editor, lacked the authority to sell the gem relics, which “constitute inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community”.

There has been a growing international outcry against the sale of the gems, which many Buddhists believe are imbued with the presence of the Buddha and should be treated as corporeal remains.

The 334 gems, which were expected to sell for about HK$100m (£9.7m), include amethysts, coral, garnets, pearls, rock crystals, shells and gold, either worked into pendants, beads and other ornaments, or in their natural form.

The gems were originally buried in a dome-shaped funerary monument, called a stupa, in Piprahwa in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India, in about 240-200BC, when they were mixed with some of the cremated remains of the Buddha, who died in about 480BC.

The British crown claimed Peppé’s find under the 1878 Indian Treasure Trove Act, with the bones and ash presented to the Buddhist monarch King Chulalongkorn of Siam. Most of the 1,800 gems went to the colonial museum in Kolkata, while Peppé was permitted to retain approximately a fifth of them.

Legal experts told the Guardian that the Indian government could pursue legal action even if the gems were sold.

Sameer Jain, a managing partner at PSL advocates and solicitors, India, said the auction could well be in breach of Indian laws including the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958, and the Indian Treasure Trove Act 1878, as the Indian ministry of culture claimed.

Jain said: “These laws vest the ownership of relics in the government of India, whether or not they were exported during the colonialist period. Any export trade without licence is prohibited. The root question would be whether [the gems] were exported out of India legally and whether the Peppés are even owners of these items. It is arguable that the relics were given to the family only for custody.”

Noor Kadhim, an art lawyer at the legal consultancy Kadhims and an independent consultant in Fieldfisher’s art law department, said India could not sue Sotheby’s under The Hague and the Unesco conventions because it was a private auction house rather than a state museum. She added: “If they wish to use these treaties, the more viable path would be to employ them against China, as the host state for Sotheby’s Hong Kong.”

Conan Cheong, a curator and expert in south-east Asian art, welcomed Sotheby’s decision, saying: “This is a rare chance for the Peppés to finally consult with the Buddhist voices raised in protest of the sale in Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, as well as with the Indian government, to find a truly equitable way to share them with all humanity.”

Chris Peppé has been approached for comment. With regards to his rights and those of his two relatives to sell the gems, he previously told the Guardian: “Legally, the ownership is unchallenged.”

In a statement, Sotheby’s said: “In light of the matters raised by the government of India and with the agreement of the consignors, the auction of the Piprahwa gems of the historical Buddha, scheduled for 7 May, has been postponed. This will allow for discussions between the parties and we look forward to sharing any updates as appropriate.”

(theguardian.com)

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Cardinals hold vote for new pope

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The cardinals responsible for electing a new pope are locked inside the Sistine Chapel for the secret ballot.

Black smoke means more voting will take place tomorrow, white means there is a new pope.

Before the doors shut, cardinals took an oath in which they promised to keep secret all matters related to the vote and that whoever is elected will faithfully carry out the role.

They will now have no communication with the outside world until a new pope is elected, meaning the conclave has officially begun.

Because a new pope requires a two-thirds majority, the process can take some time, although the last two conclaves concluded by the end of day two.

To cast their vote, each cardinal casts their vote on a card that says in Latin “I elect as Supreme Pontiff” alongside the name of their chosen candidate.

They walk in order of their seniority to place their cards inside the large silver and gilded urn.

(BBC News)

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