New Delhi: Today, the first National Space Day commemorates India’s landmark achievement in space exploration. This year’s theme is “Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga.”
On August 23 last year, India became the fourth country to land on the moon and the first to reach its southern polar region. Following this accomplishment, Prime Minister Modi announced that the country would observe this day as National Space Day every year.
PM Modi’s vision and encouragement
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for space development and reforms takes centre stage, highlighting their pivotal role in last year’s Chandrayaan-3 mission’s success. Leading scientists across the nation lauded the Prime Minister following the mission’s achievement, and their interactions with PM Modi were both inspiring and indicative of deep contemplation in this direction.
ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said in a video message that the Prime Minister has strengthened the country’s space ecosystem through policy intervention.
He has undertaken many initiatives to reform the space sector as prime minister. The National Space Policy was announced, and the roles and responsibilities of the Department of Space were delineated. Similarly, under the new foreign direct investment policy for the space sector, private and foreign investments are now allowed with specific controls and regulations, which was not possible earlier, Somanath said.
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Regarding geospatial policy, the ISRO chief said that all geospatial data and satellite data are now made available free of cost, up to five meters, to everybody to create a secondary effect on it. He added that these are three important steps in terms of policy initiatives that the government has taken, piloted by the Prime Minister.
Somanath also recalled a personal moment when Prime Minister Modi took a brief pause from the BRICS summit to witness the live transmission of the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s soft landing on the lunar surface. “I remember our honourable Prime Minister, Modi ji, was there watching live transmission and waving the flag. His personal involvement and emotional investment in these missions are truly inspiring,” Somanath added.
After returning from the BRICS summit, the Prime Minister on August 26 went to the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru to greet the scientists behind the Chandrayaan-3 mission. That day, Prime Minister Modi announced that August 23 would be commemorated as National Space Day.
B.N. Ramakrishna, Director of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking & Command Network, recalled how Prime Minister Modi boosted the morale of scientists when the Chandrayaan-2 mission’s soft landing failed.
“He (PM Modi) was sitting in the visitors’ gallery, constantly monitoring the various parameters of Chandrayaan-2. Everything was going so smoothly… but we could not land properly on the moon at the last minute, so we had a hard landing… It took some time for all of us to digest. There was a pin-drop silence in the control centre, and the Prime Minister was also watching from the visitors’ gallery,” said Ramakrishna.
He continues, “Then, after four to five minutes, when we were not able to communicate with the lander from our deep space antenna, we had to announce that it was not a soft landing. So the Prime Minister came down from the visitors’ gallery and consoled each of us at that moment because we were experiencing great emotions. We thought that he was not going to come back. And we were all trying to analyse what went wrong… We were still having discussions in the meeting room till 4-5 am about what went wrong and why we did not land properly. At that time, we got a message that the Prime Minister was coming and addressing us at 8 am. He had taken all of us into his confidence and said, ‘failures are part of the success. Do not worry about what you have missed. Please look at it and come back. And I am sure ISRO and India will be successful…’ So that was the kind of assurance he gave. And even he patted our former chairman.”
Sankaran, Director of UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), said, “I have been here in ISRO for the last 38 years. The main difference I see in the approach of ISRO is that earlier, what we do, how we do it, was not really known to anybody; only the outcome of that as a service was made available to the concerned departments or public, whatever it is. So, it only concentrated on the outcome. But nowadays, we see that not only is the outcome essential, but what we are doing should also reach the public. It should be known to the public. That is the change I am seeing in recent years.”
According to Sankaran, Prime Minister Modi was “very clear that we have to involve other than government agencies in the space activities that… finally resulted in the space sector reforms.”
ISRO Scientist Pavithra Shinde, a key member of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, recalled how the Prime Minister suggested naming the landing site of Chandrayaan-3 as the ‘Shiv Shakti Point’. This not only highlighted the Prime Minister’s emphasis on women’s power but also the significant role of women in India’s space programme, making the audience feel the inclusivity and diversity in these missions.
Chandrayaan-3 mission
Chandrayaan-3, a mission aimed at furthering India’s exploration of the moon, was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on July 14, 2023. The spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit on August 5 and became the first lander to touch down near the lunar South Pole on August 23, marking a significant milestone in India’s space exploration journey.
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–IANS
(Photo: IANS/PIB)
