India Actively Contemplates Human Lunar Mission. If India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (78) has his way, the next astronaut to leave footprints on the Moon could be an Indian citizen. Although scientists project a human landing to be at least a decade away, they are actively contemplating it. An unpiloted probe to the Moon is planned for 2007. The 350 kg orbiting spacecraft would map a previously obscure part of the Moon's surface and collect data. It may even answer whether the Moon originally broke off from the Earth or was pulled into its orbit. To answer critics who wonder why, with almost half of the billion-plus population living in dire poverty, India is spending billions of pounds on space exploration, scientists say huge benefits have been derived in telecoms and weather forecasting compared to the 8 billion pounds spent on defense. ISRO chairman Kasturirangan says India's space program runs on a shoestring (US$450-500 million) and the Moon is a long-term investment. India's plan to put a human on the Moon is partly inspired by its rivalry with China, which some experts believe could lead to a new space race reminiscent of the US / Soviet Union lunar rivalry. It would also be a patriotic coup for the ruling party. Nearing the end of his political career, Vajpayee is looking well ahead as his fascination with the Moon steadily increases. Info guardian.co.uk/.

NASA to Announce Jupiter Mission. A story posted on SpaceRef.com by Keith Cowing suggests that a mission to Jupiter by the end of this decade will figure prominently in NASA's future plans for planetary exploration. Details are expected to be announced 3 February when NASA unveils its FY 2004 budget. Dubbed "Jupiter Tour" the mission is slated for the 2009 / 2010 timeframe and will focus on detailed long-term studies of the 40 (or possibly more) Jovian moons. The mission would use new nuclear propulsion technology which will be developed under NASA's Prometheus program. The sophisticated Jupiter Tour spacecraft would be capable of "jumping" from orbit around one jovian moon to another during its mission. The cost of the project is estimated to be at least $3 billion through FY 2008. In an interesting parallel, Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer and space visionary who predicted the geostationary communications satellite and wrote about humans visiting the Moon long before it happened, also wrote about humanity's trip to the Jupiter system in 2001:A Space Odyssey and 2010:Odyssey 2. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, will hold a press conference in NASA HQ on 3 February at 3 PM EST. Budget documents will be available after 2 PM EST via links on the Internet at: http://www.nasa.gov.

Apollo 11 Artifacts on Sale. Historic Space, an online venue for rare astronaut autographs and artifacts, released Thursday the "Apollo 11 Acrylic", a lucite encased section of coldplate removed from the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia. The triangle of Titanium-alloy coldplate, which acted as a thermal and radiation shield for the command module's critical systems during its flight to the Moon and back, goes on sale for the introductory price of $395. Originally auctioned in May 2001, the 20 by 18 cm coldplate was consigned by Mascoutah Aerospace Museum in Illinois. The plate was removed after flight for testing, according to the museum's agent James Fisher. The item was part of the museum's collection of flown Apollo artifacts until it was sold. Besides the coldplate, a new selection of autograph and lunar artifacts is also put on sale online. Among the new additions are Apollo 8 and Apollo 17 crew autographs, a rare John Young Gemini spacesuit uninscribed portrait, and matted displays featuring the autograph of the first Moonwalker Neil Armstrong. Other pieces include the autographs of all 12 Moonwalkers and 24 astronauts who flew on the Apollo missions, and a film label removed from a canister flown on Apollo 11. For more info visit: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-013003a.html.

Moon Movie Screening in Wales Denied as Hoax. A film of the dark side of the Moon supposedly captured by cosmonaut Pavel Belyayev in 1965 was hampered by technical interference in the northern Welsh county of Snowdonia. The Real Institute of Conwy Valley claimed that as part of Wales Cinema Day, they teamed up with scientists from Geneva and China in a bid to project the 30-minute lunar movie using a 'secret Chinese device that produced a beam strong enough to travel to the Moon.' Despite repeated denial of the Super 8 footage by the Russian Aviation Agency and Military Space Forces, Real Institute spokesman Iwan Williams claims, "It was a genuine attempt. It's up to readers to make up their own mind to determine whether it was true." Contrary to the claim, astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said that the Institute was leading people "up the garden path." http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/