Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 23 July 2019

A man at New Delhi’s Nehru Planetarium, takes pictures of a
web cast of the lift off of Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO)’s Geosynchronous Satellite launch Vehicle (GSLV) MkIII
carrying Chandrayaan-2 from Satish Dhawan Space center in
Sriharikota, India, Monday, July 22, 2019.
Associated Press
India launches moon

mission a week

after it was aborted In this file photo dated Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018, a man leaves a beach in Rafina, east of Athens,
some ten days after a wildfire swept through the area leaving 76 people killed by Greece’s
deadliest wildfire in decades.
By ASHOK SHARMA country plans to send its Associated Press
Associated Press first manned spaceflight by AP Explains: Deadly mega-fires
NEW DELHI (AP) — India suc- 2022.
cessfully launched an un- Indian Prime Minister Nar- bring new challenge to Europe
manned spacecraft to the endra Modi said the coun-
far side of the moon Mon- try’s lunar program will get By BARRY HATTON gets. Added to that, the The spread of urban areas,
day, a week after aborting a substantial boost, writing Associated Press peak fire season is becom- meanwhile, has brought
the mission because of a on Twitter that the coun- LISBON, Portugal (AP) — ing longer, extending into homes close to forests, and
technical problem. try’s existing knowledge of The European Union de- June and October, with danger lies in the proximity.
Scientists at the mission the moon “will be signifi- scribes wildfires as “a seri- an increasing number of In Greece last summer, an
control center burst into cantly enhanced.” ous and increasing threat” mega-fires. additional hazard came
applause as the rocket The launch of the $141 mil- across the continent. These extreme blazes are from lax oversight of urban
lifted off in clear weather lion moon mission a week Most alarmingly, forest characterized by the rapid planning.
as scheduled at 2:43 p.m. earlier was called off less blazes are growing in inten- spread of flames, intense Illegally constructed build-
from Sriharikota in southern than an hour before liftoff sity, especially in southern burning, unpredictable ings in woodland and
India. K. Sivan, head of In- because of a “technical countries such as Greece, shifts in direction and em- coastal areas were a
dia’s space agency, said snag.” Spain, France, Italy and bers that are carried far contributing factor in the
the rocket successfully in- Media reports said the Portugal but also in Scandi- away. deaths of 101 people in
jected the spacecraft into launch was aborted after navia. But according to an EU re- Mati, outside of Athens,
orbit. scientists from the Indian Experts warn the continent port last year, authorities where many drowned as
The spacecraft — named Space Research Orga- needs to get ready for are still using traditional they tried to swim away
Chandrayaan, the Sanskrit nization identified a leak blazes that reach a mas- methods to fight fires, rely- from intense heat and
word for “moon craft” — is while filling helium in the sive new scale. These su- ing on water to extinguish smoke engulfing beaches.
scheduled to land on the rocket’s cryogenic engine. perfires, or mega-fires, are flames instead of investing More severe droughts
lunar south pole in Septem- The space agency neither catastrophic events that kill in long-term efforts needed nowadays are leaving for-
ber and send a rover to ex- confirmed nor denied the and blacken broad areas for prevention. ests tinder-dry. Spells of un-
plore water deposits con- reports, saying instead that and are hard to stop. ____ usually high temperatures
firmed by a previous mis- the problem had been Here’s a look at Europe’s WHAT’S CAUSING IT? are also facilitating blazes.
sion that orbited the moon. identified and corrected. wildfire problem. In Western Europe, people Both of those challenges
If India did manage the The spacecraft that ____ have been leaving the have come with climate
soft landing, it would be launched Monday is carry- WHAT’S HAPPENING? land and moving to the cit- change, with scientists say-
only the fourth to do so, fol- ing an orbiter, lander and Between 2000 and 2017, ies. ing that Sahara-like condi-
lowing the U.S., Russia and rover that will move around 611 firefighters and civilians Abandoned fields, pastures tions are jumping the Medi-
China. on the lunar surface for died in wildfires in European and forests have been left terranean Sea into south-
India’s first moon mission 14 Earth days. It will take Union countries, with eco- to themselves, becoming ern Europe.
orbited the moon in 2008 around 47 days to travel nomic damage calculated overgrown with what turns Forest management poli-
and helped confirm the before landing on the at more than 54 billion eu- into fuel for wildfires. cies work on a decades-
presence of water. The moon.q ros ($60.5 billion). Instead of a properly tend- long timescale and need
Portugal suffers more than ed patchwork of different to be more adaptable, EU
most, recording over 18,000 vegetation, some of which authorities say.
wildfires a year since 2007. is more fire-resistant, large Prevention “does not re-
Huge blazes in 2017 killed areas of countryside have ceive the necessary em-
at least 106 people. dense and continuous for- phasis and funding com-
Though the European est cover which benefit pared to fire suppression,”
trend is for fewer blazes and propagate blazes. according to the EU, while
and smaller areas charred, Conifer forests and euca- “the preparedness of
except in Portugal, bigger lyptus plantations, which agencies and communi-
and meaner forest fires are provide income for land- ties to deal with extreme
stretching emergency as- owners, are common and fire events is often far from
sets and government bud- burn fiercely. optimal.” q