US SPACE scientists, including those from NASA, are all over the moon as they await with bated breath for India's ambitious lunar mission Chandrayaan-2's historic soft landing on the moon in the early hours of Saturday (7).
Chandrayaan-2's landing module 'Vikram' will begin its final descent to pull off a historic soft landing on the lunar surface on Saturday.
A successful landing will make India the fourth country after Russia, the US, and China to achieve a soft landing on the moon. But it will be the first to launch a mission to the unexplored lunar South Pole.
The US space community believes that the landmark mission would help them enrich their understanding of the moon's geology.
The Indian embassy here has arranged a live screening and presentation on Chandrayaan-2's landing on Friday (6) (local time).
The community of space scientists from NASA would be watching every minute of the historic landing.
Vikram, the lander, is expected to touch down the moon between 4 and 5 pm local New York time Friday.
Moon's South Pole, where India would be landing its six-wheeled rover named Pragyan, could become one of the most important places on the moon's surface, said Space.Com, adding that it will become the southernmost spot on the moon to be visited by a spacecraft.
"The Chandrayaan-2 landing site will be in completely new terrain," Brett Denevi, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory told scientific journal Nature.
Chandrayaan-2 carries 13 instruments from India and one from NASA.
Denevi told Nature that she was most excited about the orbiter's imaging infrared spectrometer, which will map light reflected off the lunar surface over a wide range of wavelengths.
This information can be used to identify and quantify surface water, which absorbs light strongly at certain wavelengths, she said.
For Dave Williams, a planetary scientist at NASA, the Chandrayaan-2 mission would help answer several crucial questions.
"We've surveyed the moon pretty extensively from orbit, but there's nothing like actually being there," he told American magazine Wired.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission is a point of national pride for India, it said.
The New York Times noted Thursday (5) that Chandrayaan-2 was "relatively inexpensive" compared with other space missions.
"It cost less than $150 million, cheaper than the budget to make the 2014 Hollywood film "Interstellar", the daily reported.
"The South Pole of the moon is interesting to scientists because of the possibility that water ice could be there. That could be useful for moon habitation and making fuel for exploring Mars. Scientists also want to look for deposits of helium-3, potentially a future energy source for Earth," The New York Times said.
"India is one step closer to achieving its space superpower ambitions," CNN reported on Thursday, adding that the country will join the elite club of the US, China, and Russia that have made soft landing on the moon.
"India's entrance into space exploration over the last decade has been marked by a series of missions at low operation costs," the news channel said.
Scientists hope to gain a better understanding of the origins of the deposits and determine whether it might be possible to mine them to obtain water for future space missions, Timothy Swindle, director of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson told NBC news.
"We know that there's water there, but we don't know very much about it — how much there is, how it got there," Swindle was quoted as saying.
"The more we can learn, the better, in part because if we want to explore the moon that would be a really great resource for human exploration," he said.
UK music industry continue to face systemic barriers that hinder progress, visibility, and career growth – despite decades of contribution and cultural influence, a new report has revealed.
The study, South Asian Soundcheck, published last Tuesday (7), surveyed 349 artists and professionals and found that while many are skilled and ambitious, structural obstacles are still holding them back.
Prepared by Lila, a charity focused on empowering south Asian artists and music professionals, the survey showed that nearly three-quarters of respondents earn some income from music, but only 28 per cent rely on it full time.
More than half struggle to access opportunities or funding, and many said they lack industry networks or knowledge about contracts and rights.
Beyond structural issues, almost half said they face stereotypes about the kind of music they should make; two in five encounter family doubts about music as a career, and one in three has experienced racial discrimination.
Although 69 per cent said there was progress in visibility, but 68 per cent still feel invisible within the industry.
Respondents sought urgent action, including mentorship and networking opportunities, stronger south Asian representation in key industry roles and fairer access to funding.
Veteran musician and composer Viram Jasani, who chaired the Asian Music Circuit and led a national enquiry into south Asian music in 1985, told Eastern Eye the findings were “disheartening”.
“I read the report and my heart sank – it feels as though nothing has changed,” he said.
“Back in 1985, we had already identified the same problems and made clear recommendations for better representation, employment and long-term support. Four decades later, we are still talking about the same issues.”
Jasani, a sitar, tabla and tambura expert, said the report focused mainly on modern genres and overlooked traditional south Asian music, which he believes is central to cultural identity.
“Since colonial times, British attitudes have not changed much,” he said. “If they can erase Indian traditional culture and create a community that lives entirely within an English cultural bubble, then they will have succeeded.”
He added that young south Asian artists were often drawn to Western contemporary music, while neglecting their own heritage.
“We are brilliant in Western genres, but that should come after we are grounded in our traditional shashtriya sangeet (classical music),” he said. “Without that foundation, we lose our sense of identity.”
Jasani also warned a lack of unity within the south Asian community continues to weaken its cultural progress.
He said, “People compete with each other while the world watches. For too long, massaging egos has taken priority over producing the best of our culture.”
According to the survey, one in three has experienced direct racial discrimination. One respondent said, “There are virtually no visible and successful south Asian artists in the mainstream – people simply do not know where to place us.”
Another added: “I want south Asian artists to be part of the collective mainstream industry, not just put on south Asian-specific stages or events.”
While the visibility of south Asian artists has improved, with more names appearing on festival line-ups and in the media, the study revealed this progress remains “surface level”.
Lila’s founder, Vikram Gudi, said the findings show progress has not yet been translated into structural inclusion.
“The data exposes what we call the progress paradox. Seventy-three per cent of the people we surveyed earn some money from music, but only 27 per cent earn enough to rely on it as a sustainable career,” he said.
“The Soundcheck gives us the evidence to enact real change and identifies three essential needs – mentorship, representation, and investment.”
Three-quarters of participants said mentorship from experienced professionals would make the biggest difference to their careers. Many stressed the importance of being guided by people who “understand how the industry works and can connect them to decision-makers”.
Nearly the same proportion called for greater south Asian representation across the music industry – not just on stage, but within executive, programming and production roles at festivals, venues, record labels and streaming services.
Dedicated funding also emerged as a priority, with many describing the current grant systems as inaccessible or ill-suited to the diverse and cross-genre work that defines south Asian creativity today.
Two in five respondents reported that family or community resistance remains a challenge, often due to the perceived instability of a music career. The report argued this scepticism is “economically logical”, when there are so few visible south Asian success stories in the mainstream.
Responding to the report, Indy Vidyalankara, member of the UK Music Diversity Taskforce and BPI Equity & Justice Advisory Group, said: “South Asian music is rich, vibrant, and hugely influential. We need south Asian representation at every level of the ecosystem, plus support and investment to match that influence.”
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