Chandrayaan-3 Landing Is an Outstanding and Unforgettable Achievement

 

Indian Chandrayaan-3 landed in last month and Pragyaan is sending information properly. India is the fourth country to land on moon and the first to land at the South Pole, which is a dangerous place due to full of craters. We know, in world history India was at the top from the 300 BC to 100 AD in science, technology and other fields. Then the position was captured by the Arab and Persian during 700 AD to 1200 AD, and after invention of Steam Engine it was shifted to Europe and America. We know, those who are controlling science and technology are controlling other fields also. Nobel laurite Professor Salam said, “Those who are controlling science and technology, are controlling the world.” The achievements of India are leading the country in the direction of excellence in science, technology and other fields. It is mentionable that India is going to enter into the top three economies in the world within a few years.

Indian five thousand years’ civilization is the strong center of world’s civilization. Indian mathematician Aryabhata was the first person to create a symbol for ‘zero’ in around 300 BCE. Indians had devised a system of different symbols for every number from one to nine. This notation system was adopted by the Arabs who called it the ‘Hind numerals’. Centuries later, this notation system was adopted by the western world who called them the ‘Arabic numerals’ as it reached them through the Arab traders. As a result, India gave the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by means of ten symbols – the decimal system. The concept of zero and its integration into the numbering system also enabled one to write numbers, no matter how large, by using only ten symbols.

Additionally, the Indians created the game of chess, known as ‘Chaturanga’; Ayurveda, a holistic healing system; the Indians knew Earth was a sphere before many others; ancient Indian astronomers recognized the planets in our solar system; they accurately calculated the solar year as 365.258 days; ancient Indians performed successful surgeries, including cataract surgery; created the yoga system for physical and mental well-being; developed advanced metallurgy, creating rust-resistant iron and India’s Harappan civilization had a sophisticated urban planning system.

We know, India’s space research institution, ISRO has done excellent works in space research development. ISRO’s first satellite, Aryabhata, was launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1975. Rohini, the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle (the Satellite Launch Vehicle 3), was launched on July 18, 1980. ISRO has launched several space systems, including the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system for telecommunication, television broadcasting, meteorology, and disaster warning and the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites for resource monitoring and management. The first INSAT was launched in 1988, and the program expanded to include geosynchronous satellites called GSAT.

The first IRS satellite was also launched in 1988, and the program developed more-specialized satellites, including the Radar Imaging Satellite-1 (RISAT-1, launched in 2012) and the Satellite with Argos and Altika (SARAL, launched in 2013), a joint Indian-French mission that measures ocean wave heights. ISRO subsequently developed three other rockets: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for putting satellites into polar orbit, the Geostationary Space Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for placing satellites into geostationary orbit, and a heavy-lift version of the GSLV called the LVM3. Those rockets launched communications satellites and Earth-observation satellites as well as missions to the moon (Chandrayaan-1, 2008; Chandrayaan-2, 2019) and Mars (Mars Orbiter Mission, 2013). ISRO plans to put astronauts into orbit with the Gaganyaan spacecraft in 2024.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission, led by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has made India the fourth country to achieve a soft lunar landing and the first to reach the southern polar region of the moon. The Chandrayaan-3 mission, which began its lunar orbit in early August, has been conducting a series of experiments since its successful landing. The Pragyan rover, housed within the Vikram lander, has been deployed to carry out these experiments over a period equivalent to one lunar day, or 14 Earth days.

One of the key experiments conducted by Chandrayaan-3 involved preparing a temperature profile of the lunar topsoil. This was achieved using an instrument named ChaSTE, equipped with a temperature probe and ten individual sensors capable of reaching a depth of 10 cm below the surface.

The data collected from this experiment has provided the first temperature profile for the lunar south pole, offering valuable insights into the moon's thermal properties. Meanwhile, rover has successfully navigated its first obstacle proving its robustness and strength. Pragyan negotiated its way around a crater on the moon on August 27, just days after it began walking on the lunar surface, The six-wheeled rover is working on solar energy and is expected to function as long as sunlight falls in the southern polar region of the moon.

In addition to temperature profiling, the Chandrayaan-3 mission is also studying lunar quakes, mineral compositions, and the presence of water-ice on the moon's surface. The Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) experiment onboard the lander is studying the electrons and ions near the lunar surface and their temporal changes.

The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission has been widely celebrated, both in India and globally. Former NASA expert Mike Gold praised the mission as a victory of Indian innovation, highlighting the relatively small amount of resources used by India to achieve this feat. It is mentionable that India is using far lesser budget for its achievements in comparison with USA, China, Russia and other countries. So it will be helpful for the developing countries to get cooperation from India for satellite and other space research. It is already reported that in 2030 India’s space economy will occupy 10% of total Indian economy.

Social media mentions of the mission have also been high where Chandrayaan-3 was most discussed online. As the mission continues, the world eagerly awaits further updates from ISRO about the findings of Chandrayaan-3. The mission's success serves as a stepping stone for future lunar explorations and a testament to India's growing prowess in space exploration.

By this time Pragyaan completed several days in sending information. On September 2, ISRO has sent Aditya L1 for exploration of our Sun. The Aditya-L1 mission aims to provide a detailed analysis of the Sun’s behavior, observing the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun, the corona, in different wavebands, which indirectly impacts Earth’s climate and satellite communication. This mission stands as another feather in the cap for ISRO, following their successful Chandrayaan-3 moon landing.

The achievements of Chandrayaan-3 and other missions are pride for not only India but also the entire world, especially this region. For this reason, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi remarked that Chandrayaan-3 landing is an outstanding and unforgettable achievement.

 
Dr. N. C. Bhowmik is an
academic scholar, freedom
fighter and former ambassador.