Bengaluru:

The triumph of Chandrayaan-3 – India’s Moon mission – was the result of tens of thousands of hours of research and analysis by hundreds of scientists, engineers and technicians, who guided the nation to space history last month after the Vikram lander soft-landed near the lunar South Pole. Spearheading the Indian Space Research Organisation’s efforts was agency boss S Somanath, who spoke exclusively to NDTV on Saturday, on his personal and professional journey and the importance of India creating and establishing a “permanent habitat” on the Moon, Mars and exoplanets.

Among the points the ISRO Chairperson discussed were the many challenges he has faced over the course of his career, including (the now scarcely believable) comment “my position (in ISRO) was threatened… I could have been thrown out”.

“… don’t think everything was nice for me in my life… I also faced challenges in personal life and official life. You (referring to himself) can be thrown out of an organisation… your position can be threatened (and) you are sometimes not even treated with great respect,” Mr Somanath told NDTV.

Looking back on his career, India’s top space man recalled harsh words ahead of an earlier launch.

“Many years ago… in launch of PSLV Mark-III expedition there was every possibility of a failure but somebody had to take the decision (of launching) and I took it. I think I was threatened… that it would be a “colossal failure”,” he said.

‘But there was nobody else and I did it… and it was successful. Many things happen in life like that.”

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The ISRO boss, with a smile on his face, said that though he had been criticised and his ability questioned, he had taught himself to rise above the “silly words… silly acts” of some people.

“‘…you are not a suitable person (for this role)’… I hear all this criticism but you have to raise yourself above these silly things. Once you reach that point (of self-confidence) you can look at people like this and smile. Their silly acts can be ignored.”

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“How to do that? You go through a process… learn how to develop your self-confidence. And once you do that then you are not worried about these silly people and their words,” he told NDTV.

The man who made India’s wildest space dreams a reality is soft-spoken and erudite, and describes himself as an “explorer”. “I explore the Moon… the inner space. It is part of the journey of my life to explore science and spirituality,” he said at a temple after Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon.

That “journey” involves an understanding of one’s weaknesses and limitations.

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Mr Somanath said. “I had several limitations… both in terms of technical capabilities and my own personal capacity. You work on this over a period of time in your own way. For me, my mental and physical growth and subject knowledge growth was thanks to various people who came in my life at different times and gave me insight.”

On India Habitat On Moon, Mars

On India’s future space plans – which include the Aditya L1 solar and manned Gaganyaan mission – Mr Somanath said if humanity plans to travel beyond Earth, habitat creation is needed on the Moon and Mars, as well as exoplanets, and that Indians had to be there.

“We think of ourselves as so inferior today… that we are not technologically advanced, not financially powerful. And we always think we are poor, so we can’t invest in all of this. I believe that this has to go, for a nation which thinks that they are the one who are creators of knowledge,” he said.

The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the country. Photo: ISRO

Hours after the Pragyan lunar rover rolled out from the Vikram lander and took its first “walk on the moon” in the early hours of Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the historic Chandrayaan-3 Mission was running on schedule, with all systems working normally. Instruments aboard the lander and rover will now study the moon’s mineral composition and the seismic activities in its atmosphere, according to ISRO chairman S. Somanath.

The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the country.

‘Walk on the moon’

“Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India Made for the MOON! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!” ISRO posted on social media platform X, on Thursday morning.

President Draupadi Murmu had made the first announcement of the rover’s successful deployment at 7 a.m. “Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayan 3. I look forward with excitement, alongside my fellow citizens and scientists to the information and analyses that Pragyan will acquire and enrich our understanding of the moon,” she posted.

‘All systems are normal’

Later in the evening, ISRO added an update on mission operations and the payloads aboard the lander. “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: All activities are on schedule. All systems are normal. Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. Rover mobility operations have commenced. SHAPE payload on the Propulsion Module was turned ON on Sunday,” it posted.

Dr. Somanath confirmed that the rover movement is happening and working very well. He told the Press Trust of India that there are two instruments in the rover and three instruments on board the lander, and all of them have been switched on sequentially.

“They will study basically the mineral composition of the moon, as well as the atmosphere of the Moon and the seismic activities there,” he added.

‘Perfect landing’

Dr. Somanath also said that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s lander Vikram had touched down on the moon’s surface well within the area identified for the purpose.

“(The lander landed) perfectly in the intended site. The landing location was marked as 4.5 km x 2.5 km — I think on that space, and the exact centre of that was identified as the location of landing. It landed within 300 metres of that point. That means it is well within the area identified for landing,” he said.

(with PTI inputs)

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A dish antenna is seen inside the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) facility on August 23, 2023 in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

With Vikram, the lander module of Chandrayaan-3, successfully landing on the surface of moon on August 23, the focus has now moved to the rover in its belly, Pragyan.

The officials at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC) are readying to roll out the rover, which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.

“The Pragyan rover may come out in the next few hours or it may take one day also to come out depending on the conditions,” ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said.

He said that once out, the rover would carry out two important experiments. It has two payloads — the LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). The objectives of the LIBS are to conduct qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis and to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further our understanding of the lunar surface.

The APXS will determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the landing site.

The team behind Chandrayan-3’s success

Soon after the ISRO achieved the historic feat of landing on the lunar south pole, Mr. Somanth introduced the key members who enabled India to achieve the task flawlessly.

P. Veeramuthuvel, Project Director, Chandrayaan-3, said, “It is a great moment of happiness, it gives me immense satisfaction on achieving this goal as Project Director of this mission. The entire mission operations from launch till landing happened flawlessly as per the timeline and we have become the fourth country to demonstrate the soft landing on the moon and the first country to go to the south pole of the moon.”

Sreekanth, Mission Director, Chandrayaan-3, said, “It gives me immense pleasure to be part of Chandrayaan-3 and as Mission Director, I would like to thank each and every team member who has supported in carrying out all the mission operations flawlessly.”

Calling it a memorable moment, Kalpana K., Associate Project Director, Chandrayaan-3 said, “We have achieved our goal flawlessly after rebuilding our spacecraft. It has been breath in and out for our team.”

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M. Sankaran, Director of U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, said, “Today we have achieved what we set out to achieve in 2019. It was delayed by four years but we have done it.” He was referring to the failed landing of Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.