Syed Mustafa Kamal. File
| Photo Credit: Photo Credit: X/@KamalMQM

Pakistani law-maker Syed Mustafa Kamal drew a comparison between India’s achievements and the precarious situation in Karachi, by mentioning India’s moon landing mission.

The Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) leader said that while India is landing on the moon, Karachi is making news of children being killed by falling in open gutters.

“Today, the condition in Karachi is that, while the world is going to the moon, children are dying by falling into gutter in Karachi. On the same screen, there is news that India landed on the moon, and just after two seconds, the news is that a child died in an open gutter in Karachi,” Mr. Kamal said in his address to the Parliament on May 15.

He further highlighted the lack of fresh water in Karachi. The MQM-P leader also said citing a report that there are 70 lakh children in Karachi and more than 2.6 crore children in Pakistan, who are not able to go to schools.

“Karachi is the revenue engine of Pakistan. The two seaports operational in Pakistan since its inception, are both in Karachi. We (Karachi) are the gateway to the entire Pakistan, Central Asia to Afghanistan…For 15 years, Karachi was not given even a bit of fresh water. Even the water that came, the tanker mafia hoarded it and sold it to the people of Karachi,” Kamal said.

“We have a total of 48,000 schools, but a new report says that out of that 11,000 are ‘ghost schools’. Seventy lakh children in Sindh don’t go to school and a total of 2,62,00,000 children in the country don’t go to school…if we just focus on this, the leaders of the country shouldn’t even get proper sleep,” the Pakistani Parliamentarian added.

In August last year, India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander became the first spacecraft from the country to safely reach the lunar surface in August 2023. India also became the first country in the world to land on the South Pole of the moon. Meanwhile, Pakistan, which is grappling with economic distress, high inflation, and mounting debt, is seeking a new loan programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

“A team of the global lender is currently in Pakistan to hold talks on the issue. It has urged Islamabad to bring “strong cost-side reforms” to restore the viability of the country’s energy sector,” reported ARY News. It has also urged an ‘overhaul’ of its tax system. Last month, Pakistan completed a short-term $3 billion programme, that helped stave off sovereign default, however, the government has highlighted the need for a fresh, longer-term programme, according to Dawn.

To create awareness among students about the success of Chandrayaan-3, NCERT prepared a special reading module for schoolchildren and the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan released it on October 17, 2023 in New Delhi in the presence of ISRO chairman S. Somanath.
| Photo Credit: Twitter/@dpradhanbjp

Bhutan, China want deal on boundaries ‘soon’

Bhutan and China held their 25th round of boundary talks, that have been held up since the last round in 2016, even as Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, with both sides saying they want a deal on demarcating the boundaries “soon”.

Day after quitting IAS, Odisha Chief Minister’s aide V.K. Pandian takes up key roles

Odisha politics, otherwise dubbed quiet and monotonous for 25 years of domination by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, is set for an exciting and raucous phase as the CM’s long-time private secretary V.K. Pandian was on Tuesday appointed as the Chairman of 5T (Transparency, Technology, Teamwork, Time and Transformation) Initiative and Nabin Odisha.

NCERT reading material on Chandrayaan draws ire for ‘mixing science with mythology’

Reading material suggested by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on Chandrayaan-3 for schoolchildren has drawn the ire of rationalists and educationists for “mixing science with mythology.” They also contend that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been glorified in the reading material instead of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the contribution of the scientists.

Throw out forces using casteism, regionalism to divide country: PM Modi

Returning to the venue he had graced during Dasara celebrations in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called upon people to finish off forces trying to divide the country with casteism and regionalism.

Centre to roll out DNA, face matching systems at police stations across country

More than a year after the Criminal Procedure Identification Act (CrPI) was passed by Parliament, the Centre is all set to roll out ‘DNA and Face Matching’ systems at 1,300 police stations across the country. The provisions of the Act are yet to be implemented entirely on the ground. There are logistic and connectivity issues too, police officials said.

Israel calls for resignation of UNSG Antonio Guterres

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s comment to the Security Council that attacks by Hamas “did not happen in a vacuum” angered Israel, which called for the UN chief’s resignation and apology. In a post on X, Mr. Cohen said he “will not meet with the UN Secretary-General. After the October 7th massacre, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must be erased off the face of the planet!”

Though they are not elected, judges have vital roles to play in evolution of societies: CJI Chandrachud

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Sena vs Sena Dussehra rally: Thackeray corners Shinde over Maratha reservation

The struggle for supremacy over the hearts and minds of the Shiv Sena cadre was played out in earnest during the rival Dussehra rallies of CM Eknath Shinde and former CM Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday, with Mr. Shinde accusing Mr. Thackeray of forsaking his father, Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva and prostrating himself before the Congress.

U.S. States sue Meta for harming young people’s mental health, collecting data on children

A group of 33 States including California and New York are suing Meta Platforms Inc. for harming young people’s mental health and contributing the youth mental health crisis by knowingly designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.

Canoeist couple inspires each other to achieve rare feat of winning Asian Para Games medals

Manish Kaurav was not sure of winning a medal at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games on Tuesday but he remembers his wife and Indian para canoe team-mate Prachi Yadav telling him “we will not go empty-handed”. The couple achieved a rare distinction of husband-wife winning medals in the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou. Prachi won the gold medal in canoe KL2 event on Tuesday to add to her silver in the VL2 category on Monday. Manish picked a bronze in men’s canoe KL3 event on Tuesday.

Army gears up to induct first lot of Apache attack helicopters from February 2024 onwards 

The Army is gearing up to induct the first lot of AH-64E Apache attack helicopters from February 2024 onwards and will be deployed in the desert sector, while the bigger contract for 156 indigenous Light Combat Helicopters (LCH), 90 for the Army and 66 for the Indian Air Force, estimated to cost ₹45,000 crore, is expected to be taken up by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) next week.

ICC World Cup | Mahmudullah’s century in vain as South Africa thrashes Bangladesh

It was another day, another run feast for South Africa! At the Wankhede Stadium on October 24, it rode on Quinton de Kock’s 174 and a blitzkrieg 90 from Heinrich Klassen to plunder 144 off the last ten overs, and put up a mammoth 382 for five, before handing a 149-run defeat to Bangladesh and bolster its chances of a last-four spot in the World Cup.

The story so far: Scripting history, the Chandrayaan-3 lander landed in the south polar region of the moon on August 23 at 6:03 pm IST, making India the first country to successfully soft-land in that area. The Vikram lander along with the Pragyan rover have since completed a small suite of surface tests. China’s Yutu-2 rover is the only other such instrument currently active on the moon.

Chandrayaan-3 is India’s second attempt to land on the moon. The first was Chandrayaan-2, whose lander module crashed on the moon in 2019.

China had landed a lander-rover module in the South Pole-Aitken Basin (this is not as close to the south polar region as Chandrayaan) in 2018. Both are operational as of date.

Here’s a look at China’s missions to the moon.

Chang’e

Since 2007, China has been launching lunar missions comprising orbiters, landers, rovers, and sample-return spacecraft. While Chang’e-1 and 2 launched lunar orbiters, Chang’e-3 launched the Yutu rover, which conducted a series of experiments on the lunar surface.

Planned initially as a back-up for Chang’e 3, the Chang’e 4 mission launched Yutu-2 on December 8, 2018, and it became the first rover to successfully soft-land on the moon’s far side.

After its launch, Chang’e 4 entered lunar orbit on December 12, 2018 and later completed three weeks of orbital manoeuvres before the spacecraft made a controlled landing in the Von Karman crater in the South Pole-Aitkin Basin on January 3, 2019.

The rover, on the far side of the moon, hibernates in the lunar night and functions during the day. The lander that transported it, Chang’e 4, is still operational and is a communication relay between the rover and control stations on the earth together with the orbiter, Queqiao. Details of data collected by the rover and the experiments conducted by it have not been made public by the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA).

Chang’e 5 was launched on November 23, 2020, with two lunar orbiters, a lander, and an ascent vehicle. The primary mission objective was to collect surface samples from the Mons Rumker region of Oceanus Procellarum on the moon. After the launch, Chang’e 5 completed a lunar orbit before the descender spacecraft separated on November 29, 2020. Lowering into a circular orbit, the descender along with the lander landed on Mons Rumker, a vast volcanic plain.

The lander was equipped with a robotic arm with a scoop, a coring drill, and a chamber with a regolith storing capacity of up to 4 kg. (Regolith is the layer of soil, composed of loose rocks, dust, and other debris that covers the moon’s surface).

The lander also had the Panoramic Camera (PCAM), Lunar Regolith Penetrating Radar (LRPR), and a visible and near-infrared Lunar Mineralogical Spectrometer (LMS). With a life of one lunar day (two weeks), the lander did most of the drilling and sampling within 48 hours of landing. From a depth of 1 metre, the lander collected and stored 1.731 kg of lunar regolith and later transferred it to the ascender module.

This module then travelled to the orbiter and transferred the sample container to the return capsule, which fired its rockets and entered the earth-moon orbit before landing in Inner Mongolia in northern China on December 17, 2020. Before returning to the earth, the orbiter separated from the return capsule, fired its rockets and headed for the earth-sun Lagrange point L1 to observe the sun. (This is the same location in space to which India’s Aditya L-1 satellite is currently headed.)

China has more moon missions planned — Chang’e 6,7 and 8 in 2024, 2026 and 2027— before finally sending a crewed mission to the moon by 2030. Continuing its sample return mission, Chang’e 6, a back up to Chang’e 5, will also have a lander with a scooping arm, return container, and ascender. This mission will also land on the far side of the moon, in the South Pole-Aitken Basin.

In 2026, Chang’e 7 is scheduled to expand on lunar south pole exploration by conducting detailed surveys, analysing the terrain, and studying the geological composition, locations of water ice, and the space environment. The mission will focus on detecting water ice in parts of the moon’s permanently shadowed craters.

In 2027, Chang’e 8 will test technologies necessary to construct a lunar science base in the south pole, carrying a lander, a rover, a flying detector, and a 3D-printing module.

Chang’e mission aims

The Chang’e lunar exploration missions have seen evolving phases of the Chinese space programme since they began in 2007. Initial missions Chang’e 1 and 2 were designed to launch an orbiter and capture high resolution photos of the lunar surface. Chang’e 3 launched in 2013 comprised of a rover (Yutu) which explored 3 sq. km of the moon for 90 earth days collecting data to understand the moon’s elemental composition and the lunar subsurface. This mission demonstrated China’s capability to soft land on the moon.

However, the programme’s aims changed with Chang’e 4, turning its focus towards the southern shadowed areas of the moon. Launching yet another lander-rover in 2018, Chang’e 4 was tasked with performing a controlled landing in the Von Karman crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin and capture humankind’s first photos of the far side of the moon taken from the surface. Armed with spectrometers and radars, the rover studied the composition of the lunar surface there.

China then changed Chang’e mission’s aim to returning samples of lunar regolith to the earth with Chang’e 5, which brought 1.731 kg of lunar regolith back.

Chang’e 4’s lander and Yutu-2 rover were supposed to last for two months, but they are still functional, and have been sending data and high-resolution photos of the far side of the moon. Both the lander and rover use radioisotopic heat sources to maintain their temperatures through lunar nights.

Chang’e 5 had a specific lifetime of 23 days from launch on November 23, 2020, to return on December 16, 2020. After lunar orbit capture on November 28, the lander and descender/ascent vehicle separated and landed on the lunar surface on December 1. As the lander was capable of collecting samples for only 1 lunar day ), it lifted off via the ascender on December 3 and transferred the samples to the return capsule, before crashing to the moon’s surface on December 7.

The return capsule landed with parachutes on December 16 in northern China. Before entering earth orbit, the orbiter headed to the earth-sun L1 Lagrange point for a mission to study the sun.

As of 2021, the orbiter observed the earth and the sun, and was on its way to the moon. Some reports suggest that the Chang’e 5 orbiter may have performed a lunar flyby before heading to asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa— a part of China’s asteroid sample-return mission scheduled for 2025.

Midhani Chairman and Managing Director S.K. Jha inspecting company products, on September 8, 2023..
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (Midhani), the defence public sector unit specialising in making special steels and alloys for the strategic sector, is ready for the Gaganyaan Mission after playing a successful role in the Chandrayaan Mission in supplying vital materials for making the launch vehicle, engine, motors, lander and the rover on the Moon.

It has already transferred the entire Gaganyaan project sets of materials for making rockets, engines, crew modules and others sufficient for “five launches”, though the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning three with the last one likely to take the humans into space, disclosed chairman and managing director S.K. Jha.

In an exclusive interaction, the top official said all the special metals and alloys that goes into the making of various systems have been delivered as the space agency will be making many trials before sending the rockets into the space under the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme.

“For Gaganyaan Mission, we have to be very careful as it calls for highest standard of purity of raw materials, during processing and after processing, we have witnesses stringent quality controls. To achieve that kind of performance we have to take precautions from the beginning. It is a big challenge. In every stage, ISRO has sought 20% extra,” said Dr. Jha.

With common production facilities for many projects, the challenge was in separating the work from others in the production. “Our engineers, quality control and process engineers have been specially counselled about being alert all the time and ISRO chairman S. Somanath himself had come down for a session to talk about following the protocols”, he said.

Midhani had “done lot of technological advancements” for taking up tasks in a mission mode and with less turnaround time. “We test for fractures in our lab and stress tests are done at very high and low temperatures to demonstrate the properties. We check our material minutely at every step as we cannot cannot afford to fail up in space. ISRO will also do its parallel tests at its facility,” he explained.

The CMD was especially excited about Chandrayaan’s success. “GSLV-LVM rocket is a very high powered one with ISRO. The liquid engine firing from the bottom has lot of components going from us – nickel, titanium alloys. We had supplied these earlier too, but this latest one has gone for the farthest distance. What more testimony is needed about our work quality?,” he chuckles.

Titanium alloys were used in both the lander and the rover on the moon and the material is expected to withstand the harsh weather of very high temperatures and extreme cold. Indigenously developed ultra high strength ‘maraging’ steel – alloy of iron, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, titanium and aluminium was also used.

“Design and specifications are given by ISRO and their scientists are present throughout to do a double check ,” he reveals. Once an order is issued, Midhani is now capable of making materials enough for 10 launches a year from one launch for two months. “In fact, every three months we can give material for three to four launches including all sets – rings, plates, wires, etc. ISRO inventory position is good now,” added Dr. Jha.

New Delhi:

After the huge success India’s moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, the country is now gearing up for another one but this time to the Sun. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch its first space-based solar mission Aditya L1 on September 2 at 11.50 am from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.

ISRO Chief S Somanath said the countdown for the Aditya-L1 launch will start today. “We are just getting ready for the launch. The rocket and satellite are ready. We completed the rehearsal for the launch,” he said.

ISRO on its official X account, previously known as Twitter said that countdown leading to the launch has commended.

PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission:
The countdown leading to the launch at 11:50 Hrs. IST on Septermber 2, 2023 has commended.

The launch can be watched LIVE
on ISRO Website https://t.co/osrHMk7MZL
Facebook https://t.co/zugXQAYy1y
YouTube https://t.co/NzOCSnp2Zv
DD National TV…

— ISRO (@isro) September 1, 2023

Aditya L1 shall be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.

This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time.

The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields etc.

On August 23, India became the first country to safely land a craft in the moon’s south pole region. The mission is ongoing, with ISRO saying its rover had confirmed the presence of sulphur, iron, oxygen and other elements on the moon.

New Delhi:

Six decades after its first rocket launch, India, with the success of its Chandrayaan-3 mission now has a surer footing in the field of space exploration and technology. But now, experts say is time the country came up with a national strategic vision on a space policy, boost space-tech, propel its space economy and maximise its geopolitical gains.

India’s goals of becoming a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council is still unfulfilled, but it is now part of an elite group of nations that have been to the moon. These include China, Russia, and the United States. Several aspirants, including Israel, Japan, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates have not succeeded in landing on the moon’s South Pole.

Namrata Goswami, Professor, Space Policy, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University, told NDTV that the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission sends a signal to the world that India has matured as a space power, and that it is no longer dependent on the perception that Russia was the so-called hand holder for India developing its space technology.

While stressing on the fact that space plays a critical part in augmenting the grand strategic notion of a nation as well as building its hard and soft power, and India, succeeding in its lunar mission, showcased the maturity and indigenous capacity of Indian space technology, Professor Goswami, however, pointed out that where India is behind is in issuing a national security strategy and space policy where it clearly showcases how space is part of its grand strategic vision.

“Without such a strategy policy, technology demonstration may lack the strategic vision and focus,” she said.

She said the success of India’s moon mission proves to the world that the country now has indigenous space capacity and has caught up with China on the Moon, to the extent that technologies like lunar landing and sending out a rover on a celestial body are concerned. “China is ahead with its autonomous sample return where it returned lunar samples to Earth from the Moon in 2020 and then the Chang’e 5 went on to the Earth Sun Lagrange Point 1, an incredible demonstration of tech,” she said.

G. Scott Hubbard, former NASA Ames Center Director, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Stanford University, said that significant achievements in space exploration are a major badge of accomplishment for any nation. “With the success of MOM at Mars and now Chandrayaan at the Moon, India is showing noteworthy progress in space science,” he said.

Strategy for cislunar space needs planning and foresight

Professor Goswami explained that the space between the Earth and the Moon (cislunar) is a critical strategic area of great power competition with China’s lunar mission focused on sending the Chang’e 6 to the South Pole of the Moon next year to return samples. China and Russia are planning to establish a research base on the Moon by 2036, and that with India now successfully landing on the South Pole, such technology can be utilised for upcoming missions that are democratic, on the Moon, she added.

She said that the success of Chandrayaan-3 has major implications. “For one, it showcases to countries like China, and now Russia, that India has moved ahead in cislunar (space between Earth and Moon) technology by showcasing autonomous lunar landing, sending out a rover and now searching the lunar regolith for elements like aluminium, magnesium, titanium, silicon, iron ore and water ice. Clinching a soft landing where all the sensors, radar system, propulsion system and braking system has to work is a major technological leap for India,” she said.

Geopolitical gains for India

The success of India’s moon mission will improve New Delhi’s bargaining position vis-a-vis BRICS nation, which consists of China and Russia in collaborative efforts when it comes to the Moon, she said. “As for the G-20 summit, showcasing such advanced space technology builds reputation for innovation, and the fact that India did it indigenously adds to its persevering nature in regard to space technology, something other nations will notice and view India as a partner of choice in regard to space cooperation,” Professor Goswami added.

The presence of water, which could be refined into rocket fuel in the future, suggests an opportunity for other countries to use the lunar South Pole region as a base for deeper space exploration, which is where experts feel India has an edge.

The way forward

Experts feel the lunar landing will also boost India’s economy by kickstarting private space exploration programs. “Especially after India has taken a major decision to orient its entire space ecosystem for privatisation. You see, this with its 2023 space policy where the private sector will now be tasked and supported to manufacture the space systems that India will build going forward, with ISRO playing the key role of research and development. This will extend to the lunar missions as well, especially in building launch systems and lander technology,” Professor Goswami said.

The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission on Wednesday is likely to boost the Centre’s ambitious Make-in-India programme by spurring investments in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses. Shares of Indian space-sector companies have rallied. The processors were built by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s SCL in Mohali, and they are expected to give a fillip to India’s efforts to boost research in semiconductors too. In April, the government announced a landmark Space Policy, which allows the private sector access to a range of space activities.

Dr Hubbard said that in the US, commercial Aviation is a larger market than space. However, the space market continues to grow every year. “The success of SpaceX, Blue Origin and other smaller start-ups show there is clearly a low Earth Orbit space business developing. India might participate in this if it has three ingredients: 1) High net worth entrepreneurs; 2) Highly-trained aerospace engineers; 3) A business ecosystem that encourages such risk taking. It is no accident that SpaceX was founded in Silicon Valley and that Blue Origin is located in Seattle: home of Boeing.”

Professor Goswami said India is a signatory to the Artemis Accords and the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission as well as the fact that its rover (Pragyan) is carrying an experiment to study the lunar elements, supports the Artemis Accords preamble that includes space resource utilisation and building sustainable lunar presence. “As such, understanding the Moon’s South Pole region is key. ISRO can play a role in research and development in partnership with NASA to further develop that end-to-end space capacity,” she said.

A new race in space

Some also feel the geopolitical rivalry among space faring nations could become stronger after Chandrayaan.

“You could see the geopolitical angle of space with the U.S. drafted and now India signed Artemis Accords and the China-led and Russia signed International Lunar Research Station. There are several missions already planned for the Moon with a 2024 China Lunar South Pole sample return, 2028 South Pole survey mission, 2030 Chinese taikonauts landing on the Moon and finally by 2036 China building a research base in collaboration with Russia, Venezuela. Pakistan is also showing interest in joining China. This competition will play out based on who has a permanent presence on the lunar surface, who will build that base first, as well as who will succeed in building the regulatory and normative regimes for the Moon,” Professor Goswami said.

Dr Hubbard, however, said people often speak of a Chinese-US space race to put humans on the Moon and Mars. “While the Administrator of NASA has mentioned this in Congressional testimony, the overt attributes do not yet seem as evident as the US-Soviet “space race” of the 1960’s Apollo era.”

Attend to | What does Tamil Nadu’s Namakkal district have in ordinary with the moon? 

| Video Credit score:
E. Lakshmi Narayanan

What does Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu have in ordinary with the moon? It’s the ground.

On August 23, 2023, India made history via turning into the primary nation on the earth to the touch ill at the South pole area of the moon. This feat used to be accomplished via the Indian Territory Analysis Organisation (ISRO) via its lunar venture Chandrayaan-3, next a futile effort in 2019.

The ground samples at Siddampoondi village in Namakkal district are mentioned to be very homogeneous to the ground within the lunar floor, particularly within the South Pole. This district had despatched ground samples to the ISRO in carrying out the assessments for each Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 missions.

Interviews, footage and movies: E. Lakshmi Narayanan

Script: Lalitha Ranjani

Manufacturing and voiceover: Kanishkaa Balachandran

Sonia Gandhi. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of hogging the limelight after the success of Chandrayaan-3.

In a letter to the ISRO Chairman, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi said she was writing to him to let him know how thrilled she was by the ISRO’s magnificent achievement on Wednesday. “It is a matter of great pride and excitement to all Indians, particularly the younger generation,”Ms. Gandhi said, adding that the space research agency’s outstanding capabilities have been built up over decades.

Stating that the excitement and pride of the Chandrayaan-3 landing will “stay with us for a long time”, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal targeted the Prime Minister on X (formely Twitter) for “hogging the limelight”.

“However, the PM must answer some for his hypocrisy. You were quick to come on screen and take credit after the landing, but why has your government failed so terribly in supporting the scientists and the ISRO,” he said.

The Congress leader asked as to why the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) engineers, who worked on Chandrayaan-3 launch pad, have not received their salaries for the last 17 months.

“Why did you cut the budget for such crucial missions by 32%? These are the heroes of our country, they run a world-class space research program, but you have no regard for their talent and hard work. To add insult to injury, you hogged the limelight when that moment was about the scientists’ achievements,” he added.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also shared several photographs of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi with doyens of India’s space programme such as Vikram Sarabhai to highlight the continuity in the country’s progress in the sector.

See all 55 stories

July 14: LVM3 M4 vehicle successfully launches Chandrayaan-3 into orbit from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Chandrayaan-3 starts its journey into precise orbit.

July 15: First orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earthbound firing-1) successfully performed from ISTRAC/ISRO, Bengaluru. The spacecraft is in 41762 km x 173 km orbit.

July 17: Second orbit-raising manoeuvre performed. Spacecraft is in 41603 km x 226 km orbit.

July 22: Another orbit-raising manoeuvre completed using earth-bound perigee firing.

July 25: ISRO performs one more orbit-raising manoeuvre. Spacecraft is in 71351 km x 233 km orbit.

August 1: ISRO performs Translunar Injection successfully and inserts the spacecraft into translunar orbit. Orbit achieved is 288 km x 369328 km.

August 5: Lunar-Orbit Insertion of Chandrayaan-3 performed successfully. Orbit achieved is 164 km x 18074 km, as intended.

August 6: ISRO performs second Lunar Bound Phase (LBN). With this, the spacecraft is in a 170 km x 4313 km orbit around the Moon. The space agency releases video of the Moon as viewed by Chandrayaan-3 during lunar orbit insertion.

August 9: Chandrayaan-3’s orbit is reduced to 174 km x 1437 km after a manoeuvre is performed.

August 14: Mission is in orbit circularisation phase after another manoeuvre. The spacecraft is in 151 km x 179 km orbit.

August 16: Spacecraft brought down to an orbit of 153 km x 163 km after firing is completed.

August 17: Lander module is successfully separated from the propulsion module.

August 19: ISRO performs de-boosting of the lander module to reduce its orbit. The lander module is in 113 km x 157 km orbit around the Moon.

August 20: One more de-boosting or orbit reduction manoeuvre on the lander module is performed. The lander module is in 25 km x 134 km orbit.

August 21: Chandrayaan-2 orbiter formally welcomes Chandrayaan-3 lander module saying ‘Welcome, buddy!’. Two-way communication between the two is established. Mission Operations Complex (MOX) now has more ways to communicate with the lander module.

August 22: ISRO releases images of the Moon captured by the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) of the Chandrayaan-3 mission from an altitude of about 70 km. Systems are undergoing regular checks. Smooth sailing is continuing.

August 23: Safe and soft landing of Chandrayaan-3’s lander module on the southern pole of lunar surface expected at 6.04 p.m. – PTI

An illustration showing the soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the surface of the Moon. The spacecraft is set to land on August 23, 2023 around 6.04 p.m. IST.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been able to successfully establish a two way communication between Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module and its predecessor Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter.  

“‘Welcome, buddy!’ Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM,” the space agency posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Also read: Chandrayaan-3 | How NASA, ESA will support ISRO during the Moon landing on August 23

The Chandrayaan-2 mission launched on July 22, 2019 consisted of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover to explore the unexplored south pole of the Moon.

The Orbiter, which has been placed in its intended orbit around the Moon, objective is to enrich understanding of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in the Polar Regions, using its eight state-of-the-art scientific instruments.

According to ISRO the Orbiter is healthy and all the payloads are operational.

The Orbiter payloads include : Terrain Mapping Camera – 2, Chandrayaan 2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS), Solar X-Ray Monitor, Imaging IR Spectrometer, Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar, Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer – 2, Orbiter High Resolution Camera and Dual Frequency Radio Science Experiment.

“The Orbiter camera is the highest resolution camera (0.3m) in any lunar mission so far and shall provide high resolution images which will be immensely useful to the global scientific community. The precise launch and mission management has ensured a long life of almost 7 years instead of the planned one year,” states the Chandrayan-2 mission profile.