As the country celebrated its first ever National Space Day on Friday commemorating the soft landing of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface on August 23, 2023, scientists from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) elaborated on the encouragement and vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which kept them going.
On this day a year ago, India achieved a major feat in its Space programme when its Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon. PM Modi last year named the landing site of Chandrayaan-3 as ‘Shiv-Shakti Point’ and declared August 23 as National Space Day.
While S. Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, recounted his touching encounter and the government policy decisions, Arushi Seth, Scientist, ISRO, spoke about the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) (Mangalyaan). B N Ramakrishna, Director, ISRO Telemetry, Tracking & Command Network, recalled the PM’s push even when Chandrayaan-2 failed, while Pavithra Shinde, Scientist, ISRO, spoke about the inclusion of ISRO in Republic Day tableau, and PM’s push for women scientists and getting youngsters interested in the technology. M. Sankaran, Director of the ISRO Satellite Centre, spoke about how people are now more aware about their initiatives.
PM MODI IS VERY INTERESTED IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: S. SOMANATH
“PM Narendra Modi was watching the live transmission of Chandrayaan-3 and he was waving the flag from the BRICS meeting. I called him and informed him that we have landed on the moon. He came to meet us two days later. We arranged an exhibition for him. He addressed us and made the great declaration that August 23, when Chandrayaan landed on moon, will be marked as ‘National Space Day’. He also named the spot where it landed as ‘Shivshakti Point’ and Chandrayaan 2 landing site as Tiranga Point. We were thrilled to see him at Vikram Sarabhai Centre,” said Somanath.
“We had an exhibition of Gaganyaan because he wanted to review the progress in a focused manner. When he visited Kerala, we requested him to visit the rocket centre. The Gaganyatris were given wings. We had arranged for a 20-minute exhibition, but he spent 45 minutes looking at the exhibits because he was so interested in the technology. He also looked at Vyommitra robot which will be sent in the first Gaganyaan. The robot has language capability and does actions, gestures and replies. The PM was curious about it. He started asking the Vyommitra, who replied even though the accent was slightly different than what he was trained for. Our engineers were thrilled to see the PM’s response. The PM also saw the Gaganyaan Pushpak module,” Somanath said.
Somanath said after the Chandrayaan landing, they were asked to prepare a vision for the Amrit Kaal. Modi announced the plan of sending man on the moon to the public, among others.
Recalling the most touching aspect of his interaction with the PM, Somanath said, “He called me to his room to inquire about my health. He was anxious about my cancer diagnosis, although I showed a courageous face. He gave me the confidence that I will definitely handle it. He spoke about chemotherapy and the loss of hair. I said the new technology causes minimum hair loss, and that came true for me,” he said.
Elaborating on the three key initiatives of the government, Somanath said, “First is the national space policy, in which the role and responsibilities of departmental space, ISRO, NSIL have been delineated. It makes space for private space ecosystem.”
“The second is FDI for space projects which was not possible earlier. Third is that all geospatial data is made available for free. These are three important policy initiatives of the Modi government,” he said.
PM MODI LEADS FROM THE FRONT: ARUSHI SETH
Seth said, “When the Mangalyaan mission was on, the PM came to our centre. We were very thrilled as the PM was coming. When the mission as successful, the PM gave a speech, recounting how he has always been interested in space science. He also spoke about his visit to the Gujarat space centre. When MOM was successful, he said, “Mangal ko MOM mil gayi, MOM ko Mangal.” When Chandrayaan-3 was successful, Modi said, “Chanda mama ab dur ken ahi rahe.” He knows the importance of science and technology in the success of a nation. He has the foresight. We are now working on Vision 2047, listing our goals ahead. This is his vision. We are working as part of it. It is very important for a leader to lead, which PM Modi does.”
PM MODI WAS WITH US EVEN DURING OUR FAILURE: B N RAMAKRISHNA
“Chandrayaan-2 was another big mission. We had made a lot of arrangements for PM Modi’s visit. He wanted to spread scientific knowledge. From each state, 2-3 students had come to ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) to see the landing. The PM was in the visitor’s gallery. His idea was getting children interested in science by watching the landing. He was explaining the concepts, that was the kind of knowledge he had. Chandrayaan-2 had hard landing instead of soft landing, there was silence for two-three minutes. But PM Modi ji came down from the gallery and consoled each one of us. We thought he wouldn’t return. We were having discussions at 4 am. At that time we got a message that PM Modi will address us at 8 am. We were wondering what would he say about the failure. But he said failures lead to success and asked us to look at what we had missed. He patted us on the backs, gave us the assurance and boost and asked us to bring back Chandrayaan-3. When Chandrayaan-3 was successful, he was watching. When our chairman said Chandrayaan-3 is on the moon, Modi said India has achieved the feat, not just for India, but the world. He said the scientific data from this project will be available for humanity. He said the entire world should celebrate the success. In 2014, after MOM success, he had thought that space will be a gamechanger. He had arranged for a conference with all ministries and ISRO experts to elaborate on what the space tech can do and how it can be useful.”
HIS ENCOURAGEMENT MEANS A LOT: PAVITHRA SHINDE
“The Chandrayaan-3 landing time…I was in the first row. I monitor the Doppler. After the landing, ISTRAC had a virtual interaction with the PM. The PM felt the joy and applauded the scientific community. Three days later, the PM came to Bengaluru and met us. I was among the women scientists who interacted with the PM. The PM said the space sector is about expanding and easing governance and bringing things for common man and about naming the point Shiv Shakti…He gave recognition to the point, we used to call it with its coordinates. It related from Kanyakumari to Greater Himalayas. He wanted to emphasise on women power. He said from creation to destruction of universe, there is women power involved. I was in the Republic Day tableau. It was the first time ISRO had a tableau and I was among the women scientists there. The PM wanted to highlight the contribution of women. He urged us to guide younger generation. I also delivered a few lectures to school students…His encouragement gives us satisfaction of doing something for society.”
PM GOT EMOTIONAL ABOUT TROUBLING US: M. SANKARAN
“I am ISRO for 38 years. The main difference is that earlier what we did and how we did it was not known. Only the outcome was made available. Nowadays, what we are doing is also reaching public. That is the change in recent years. For Chandrayaan-3, we wanted PM here at the time of landing, but he promised to join via video-conferencing. He was supposed to be there for three-four minutes, we were to give a cue. But he joined 30 minutes before, without waiting for our cue. He was waving the flag. PM Modi was clapping even before the chairman announced the success. He appreciated our efforts and apologized for not being there in person and agreed to meet us. He met us at the control centre on August 26 early morning. He was supposed to be there at 6 am. As per protocol, we were to be there at 4 am. He was a bit emotional that he troubled us by calling us early morning. He was clear that we have to involve other than government agencies in space activities. That is what resulted in space sector reforms also,” he said.
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