With the flawless flight of Chandrayan-I at 6.22 am from the moon mission complex at Sriharikota on Wednesday, India has become the sixth entrant in the prestigious league of lunar researchers comprising the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and China. In fact minutes before the take-off, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) scientists had had some anxious moments when clouds hovered overhead, but as the announcement came that ‘‘all weather parameters are within the launch criteria’’ and that ‘‘weather briefing is normal’’, it gave way to an exciting wait for India’s most glorious space moment. And as the countdown hit zero and the four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), standing at 44.4 metres, lifted off with the 1,400-kg Chandrayan spacecraft, jubilant scientists congratulated each other, while the sight of the rocket soaring skywards drew applause from the huge gathering of mediapersons and others who had assembled in the balconies of different buildings in the area to watch one of India’s most ambitious space projects materialize. The country thus saluted the five years of hard work by its space scientists, their painstaking research, and their commitment to the moon project. Without their diligence and innovation, we would not have had the Chandrayan pride.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the moon mission heralds a new beginning in the ISRO history and points to the dawn of a new era of more ambitious interplanetary missions by India to Mars and other planets. As former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan said, the moon mission will go a long way in realizing the country’s aim of becoming a technological powerhouse. After executing multiple orbital manoeuvres as Chandrayan reaches the vicinity of the moon in about a fortnight, and then as the 29-kg Indian payload — the Moon Impact Probe that has the national tricolour inscribed on it — detaches from the mother craft and lands on the moon after a 17-minute flight, it will mark the beginning of India’s moon research towards becoming a technological powerhouse. This is not all. India’s space capabilities have this time been amply demonstrated with Chandrayan being the first international mission to the moon led by India, which is carrying six foreign payloads — three from the European Space Agency, two from NASA and one from Bulgaria. All that it proves is India’s coming of age in space science and technology and its indigenous innovation to track outer space.
However, there are miles to go. Indeed, as ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair put it, what the ISRO scientists have chartered this time is a ‘‘remarkable journey for the Indian spacecraft to go to the moon and try to unravel the mysteries of the earth’s closest celestial body and its natural satellite’’, but given neighbouring China’s space accomplishments, especially its anti-satellite system developed last year which is next only to the US’, Indian space scientists now need to improve upon the existing technologies and try to develop an anti-satellite system of its own to counter China’s space imperialism bid. All this, however, is impossible if the government does not respond to and solve the problems that the scientific community is confronted with, especially issues like extra incentives — which means encouragement at its practical best — for those who have made research and innovation their life. But is the political class sensitive to — or even aware of — what science and its masters seek? Very unlikely. Yet, the ISRO scientists have proved that they are despite that insensitivity. That is why they need not three, but many, many cheers. source: sentinel assam
