Skip to main content

Moon Landing Done, ISRO Now Sets Eyes On Mars

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 unmanned spacecraft in an orbit around the Moon.

"It (success of Chandrayaan-3 mission) gives the confidence to configure missions to not only go to the Moon, but also to go to Mars, sometimes (perhaps) land on Mars, maybe 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. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



from NDTV News-India-news https://ift.tt/4P9FYxd
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Terrifying video shows plane flying through Hurricane Milton

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aircraft Operations Center has released a video footage showing a research aircraft experiencing severe turbulence while flying directly into Hurricane Milton. The video, captured from the passenger side window of "Miss Piggy," a Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft, shows the plane navigating through a dense, gray sky while being pounded by intense rainfall. In a post on X, the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center said, "Bumpy ride into Hurricane Milton on NOAA WP-3D Orion." The agency explained that the purpose of the flight was to gather data for hurricane research and contribute to improving the storm's forecast. The aircraft carried a team of at least four NOAA researchers on board. The video footage shows Electrical Engineer Tom Brannigan seated at the AVAPS (Airborne Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System) as the plane experiences loud and violent shaking. As the turbulence intensifies, a plastic bag tied

BJP's Poll Body Meets To Decide Candidates For Upcoming Assembly Polls

The BJP's Central Election Committee met on Friday to finalise its candidates for the coming assembly polls amid indications that the party's top brass may field Union ministers in Rajasthan as it did in Madhya Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda among other CEC members brainstormed following hectic meetings the national leadership had with state leaders from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana in the last couple of days to address regional concerns and narrow down the list of probables. Sources said this could be the last meeting of the BJP's CEC, which has already met three times until now. The BJP is yet to name any candidate for the 119-member Telangana assembly elections slated for November 30. It has declared 41 candidates, including seven MPs, for the November 25 elections to the 200-member Rajasthan assembly and 136 for the November 17 elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assemb