Bengaluru: ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Wednesday toasted the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, crediting it to the “pain and agony” of all the scientists who persevered on it, and expressed confidence that the space agency would similarly land a spacecraft on Mars in the coming years.
Acknowledging the contribution of a generation of leadership by the scientists of the country’s space agency for the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s success, he said this is an “incremental progress” and “definitely a huge one”.
The journey to the Moon is tough and soft-landing is difficult for any nation to achieve today even with the advancement of technology, he said, pointing out that India achieved it in just two missions. Chandrayaan-2, the first mission with the objective of soft landing on the Moon had a narrow miss, while the Chandrayaan-3 mission was perfectly executed.
Chandrayaan-1’s objective was only to place an an unmanned spacecraft in an orbit around the Moon. “It (success of Chandrayaan-3 mission) gives confidence to configure missions to not only go to the Moon, but also to go to Mars, sometimes (perhaps) land on Mars, may be in future go to Venus and other planets…”, he said.
Undertaking the Chandrayaan-3 mission was difficult, he said. “We went through a lot of pain and agony”.
Key scientists behind Chandrayaan-2 were also part of the Chandrayaan-3 team, he said. “Most of the people who were with Chandrayaan-2 are with us helping us to do Chandrayaan-3.They are a part of this, they have gone through such an agony…”
“…the technology that we have in Chandrayaan-3 is no less complex or inferior to any other technology that goes to the Moon. So, we have the best of the sensors of the world, best in class (equipment) in Chandrayaan-3”, he said, explaining that it was a completely Made-in-India’ mission using world-class components.
Conveying the greetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the ISRO team, he said, “The Honourable PM called me and conveyed his greetings to each one of you and your family for the wonderful work you did in ISRO.”
Speaking about the support from the government to pursue further space missions, both scientific as well as commercial, he said, “Thanks to him (PM) for the support he is giving to us for missions like Chandrayaan-3 and missions that are in the offing. That’s the great word of comfort that we are receiving for pursuing the inspirational work that we are doing for the nation.”
The ISRO chief said the Prime Minister is “very, very clear about the long-term vision, and wants to make sure that we remain very, very dominant in the area of space exploration and science”.
Addressing the ISRO team at the Mission Operations Complex, he thanked all those who prayed for the mission’s success, and in particular named ISRO veterans like A S Kiran Kumar (former ISRO chief).
“They have been helping so much, they were part of the team to help them (team) to get the confidence and get the reviews done, and to ensure that nothing goes with any mistakes,” he said.
India on Wednesday scripted history as ISRO’s ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module (LM) touched down on the lunar surface, making it only the fourth country to accomplish the feat, and the first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth’s only natural satellite.
The LM comprising the lander (Vikram) and the 26 kg rover (Pragyan) made the soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon this evening.
Noting that this is the work of a generation of ISRO’s leadership and scientists, Somanath said, “This is the journey we started with Chandrayaan-1, continued in Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-2 craft is still working and doing a lot of communication work with us. All the team that contributed to building Chandrayaan-1 and 2 should be remembered and thanked, while we celebrate (the success of) Chandrayaan-3.”
“This is an incremental progress and definitely a huge one,” he added. Comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan), India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and its objectives are to demonstrate safe and soft-landing on the lunar surface, roving on the Moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
Addressing ISRO scientists virtually from Johannesburg, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India made a resolve “on the Earth and fulfilled it on the Moon”.
“This is a moment to cherish forever,” Modi said, noting that India has reached the south pole of the Moon, where no country had ventured so far.
“India is now on the moon and now is the time to walk on the ‘Chandra Path’,” the prime minister said.
In Delhi, celebrations erupted in education centres, including schools, and residential localities as the landing module touched down on the Moon.
Earlier in the day, Delhi government school children joined the nation in praying for the successful landing with special posters. Nearly 150 girl students of the Al Jamiatul Islamia Islahul Banat madrassa in Mandoli took part in a special prayer before the scheduled landing.
The coverage of the soft-landing was available on multiple platforms, including the ISRO’s website, YouTube channel and Facebook page, and DD National TV channel.
Students across the country were glued to screens and large television sets set up at their schools and college campuses watching the Chandrayaan-3 live-streaming.
The space agency had urged all schools and educational institutions to actively publicise the event among their students and faculty, and organise its live streaming. The Union education ministry too asked universities and higher education institutions, including IITs and IIMs, to organise live-telecast of the mission.
In Jammu, students of Lawrence Public School witnessed the historic soft landing.
“We are very excited to see the Chandrayan-3 landing on the Moon. It is history for India,” Class 9 student Sunita told PTI.
Similar programmes were held in Jodhamal School, Raina School and Army Public Schools in Jammu.
In Odisha, a group of priests at the famed Jagannath temple assembled in front of the 12th century shrine’s Lion’s Gate and lit ‘diyas’ seeking divine blessings for the success of the mission.
Bhaskar Mishra, a researcher, said that “as Lord Jagannath is worshipped as the master of the universe, His blessings are most essential for India’s lunar mission”.
Puri Shankaracharaya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, an expert in Vedic mathematics, said many ‘puranas’ have mentioned about the ‘chanda (Moon)’.
“Our ancient saints were familiar with the ‘Chandra’. Therefore, space scientists should also take reference from the puranas while going for lunar mission,” he said and wished all success for the mission.
While priests performed ‘havans’ in temples across the country, clerics at several ‘dargahs’, including in Mumbai and Bhubaneswar, took ‘chadar’ as offerings for the mission’s success.
In localities and residential colonies in several cities, projectors were also put up to live-stream the nerve-racking final descent.
ISRO chief S Somanath said the success of Chandrayaan-3 gives Indian space scientists the confidence to undertake more challenging future missions.
“We have achieved soft landing on Moon. India is on the Moon,” he said minutes after the landing.
The Rs 600-crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 on board Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket, embarking on a complicated 41-day voyage.
The lander and the six-wheeled rover (with total mass of 1,752 kg) are designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days).
