Behind the Success of Chandrayaan – 3: Untold history of astronomy and rocket science in Bharat

● Chandrayaan – 3 soft landing on the south pole of the moon is the process which should be seen as the result of centuries of India’s quests and efforts towards scientific excellence.

● The British East India Company was impressed with the Indian rockets and adapted them for use against Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

● The Tripura vimana aircraft, as specified in the Vaimanika Shastra, had a viable aerodynamic structure and proved to be a stable flying vehicle against high wind speeds at the wind tunnel tests conducted at a United States laboratory in California.

Sky watching on a clear night sky is a hobby of every Indian child. Sometimes on a moonless night the dark sky is lit up by a meteor or the flying star are memorable. Some children even tend to fall asleep while attempting to count the number of stars shining in the sky! But one may say that the full moon night was arguably unique for any child also because of the dinner time stories associated with it. Rarely did we know as a teenager that India’s achievements in astronomical science or Nakshatra – Vidya is far from what we knew. Similarly, the scientific tradition of Indian civilization is as old as the civilization itself.

It is true that the principles and concepts of modern astronomy began about a century and a half ago or may be earlier. Whereas the antiqueness of astronomical studies and observation in the Indian subcontinent is traceable to the pre-Vedic periods in the seals archaeologically excavated from Mohenjo-Daro dating to at least 2500 BCE and belonging to the Harappan civilization. While the seals from Mohenjo-Daro reflect astronomical occurrences, the script of Indus valley culture show that the word Nakshatras or stars are of Harappan origin. Not just to the Indus Valley people but for also the Sangam people in modern day Tamilnadu astronomy was a matter of scientific pursuit. Astronomical mentions of position of stars (nakshatras) and planets (grahas), change in seasons (ritu), eclipses (grahana), fall of meteor and comets (dhumaketu), sun (surya/aditya) and moon (chandra/ Soma) among others are aplenty in the Vedas and Upanishads .

In fact, the utmost necessity of astronomical studies for weather and monsoon forecast for prediction of agriculture, trade and shipping and measurement of astronomical objects formed the prerequisite need to further statistical measurements and mathematical studies. This was because the distance, length and time lapse of the heavenly object being observed was crucial and objective. As a result, alphabetic numerical (aksara – samkhya) systems found a natural development and hence astronomy and mathematics became the disciplines of conjoined interest as per sheer necessity. So, to understand astronomy, one had to have a better understanding of mathematical theorems and logic and hence many of the astronomers in ancient India such as Aryabhatta, Bhaskaracharya, Brahmagupta, Vishnuchandra, Lalla, Madhavacharya of Sangamagrama, Paramesvara, Nilakantha Somayaji, Jyesthadeva, Raja Sawai Jai Singh, among others also had expertise in mathematics. This multidisciplinary approach enabled these astronomer mathematicians to also generate applied knowledge on maritime shipping. Hence the profession of observational astronomer (nakshatra-darsha) is not new to India even in the terms of years of hundreds.

The ancient Indians earned knowledge about the effects and influence of gravitational pull of the moon, stars and other planets of the solar system not just in altering the course of weather but also of the plant, animal and human life using astronomical understandings! Astronomical understanding was important for deciding the timing of Vedic rituals and erecting of altars in a particular direction. In this regard the knowledge generated on astronomy in the Vedas: Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva; Brahmanas; Aranyakas; Upanishads and Vedangas are crucial to understand Vedic astronomy.

Some of the important interpretations and findings of Indian astronomy in the Vedas and later medieval era treatises relate to the following:

1. Origin of the Universe
2. Configuration of the Universe and what it is made of.
3. The Sun (Surya) as the sole light giver and controller of seasons.
4. The southern and northern progresses of the sun namely Dakshinayana and Uttarayana.
5. The Moon (suryarasmi) shines by the sun’s light and has different phases.
6. The Earth is Spherical and self-supporting.
7. Cause of day and night
8. Units of time, year and month
9. The equinoxes, solistices and eclipses
10. Elliptical path of planets (trinabhichakram) – Rig Veda
11. The concept of gravity (gurutva) – Suryasiddhanta Shiromani
12. Nadivalya Yantram or a sun dial as an apparatus to measure time
13. Yandtradhyaya instrument used to trace the sun’s path and other aspects of astronomy.
14. Easier said than ‘Rocket Science’: Advanced contribution of India

Knowing rocket science is no small deed but its foundations were laid in India, believe it or not. The Akasabhairava Kalpa (later 1400 CE) is a treatise on guns & fireworks and contains references to rocket structures termed as bana. Rockets were also known as agneya astra. In the Rajyavyavahara-kosa by Raghunath Pandit, the bana is referred to as agninalika. Rockets were a part of the Vijayanagara army at the Battle of Talikota fought against the Deccan Sultans in 1563. The gradual evolving of war rockets as an offensive projectile instrument and weaponry in warfare was common amongst the Marathas and Mughals and were quite effective in frightening the war elephants and horses and giving offensive surprises against the enemy forces. The cylinder of the rocket was made of iron, and rockets were notably used in defending forts and also formed an important part of Maratha military at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 against the Afghan forces.

James Forbes, in 1775, describes the war rockets used by the Marathas, which were quite bothersome to the British in the Anglo – Maratha Wars and contained an iron tube that was eight to ten inches long and two inches in diameter. The cylindrical object containing the explosives was fixed to an iron rod or two-edged sword or a bamboo cane that was over four feet long. The rocket with an iron spiked projection at the front with combustion material inside the iron tube travelled with great velocity on firing, thereby causing confusion and panic in the enemies and forcing them to defend themselves from the destruction caused by the rockets. The Marathas fired rocket projectiles that had a range of over 940 meters on the British and French troops. Achievement of such greater distance was possible due to the iron casting that enabled greater pressures inside the iron cylindrical pipe.

Tipu Sultan had also used rockets as war projectiles in the Battle of Srirengapatanam in 1792 and 1799 against the British in the Anglo – Mysore Wars. Tipu’s rockets were made of hammered soft iron, whose technique of production was advanced as compared to the British. The rockets were also fitted with swords to cause havoc on the enemy. The French rockets could not match the mark of the English rockets, whereas the Mysore rockets posed a grave challenge to the English army, thereby giving a hint that the rockets used by Tipu were not of French origin. Since Mysore was originally under the Vijayanagara Empire, the idea and knowledge about rockets had evolved over a period of time to be passed on to Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore with further improvement.

However, the British were impressed with the Indian rockets and made successful attempts to adopt them, which led to the evolution of Congreve rockets that the British introduced in 1806 for use from both surface and ships with sharp metals stuffed in them. It was William Congreve Jr. who studied the rockets, which were used in Mysore by Tipu’s army against the British, and with some improvements, presented the capabilities of his prototype rockets to William Pitt, the British prime minister and to the secretary for war, Lord Castlereagh, in 1805, who ordered their use in the battle with Napoleon in Boulogne in 1806, on Copenhagen in 1807 and at the decisive Battle of Waterloo in 1814. Whether the Indian origin rocket had crucial role to play in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the battle of waterloo is a case to be further researched upon.

Vaimanika Shastra: Aeronautical Design Engineering and Energy Science, not Paparazzi Pushpaka Vimana

It is notable that though several ancient Indian scriptures have widely mentioned, referred and conceptually described the construction of automated flying machines and ideas of self-moving aircrafts for transportation and even warfare during ancient times, there are no reports of physical remains or archaeological evidence of the same. However, a 3D graphic-model design of a tripura vimana aircraft was designed by Kavya Vaddadi, an aeronautical engineer, as per the specifications and measurements described in the Vaimanika Shastra. This design was subsequently tested scientifically by putting its 3D-printed model through a wind tunnel for analysis and testing at the University of California’s Irvine laboratory by aerospace engineer Dr. Travis Taylor in 2017.

The test showed the 3D vimana design to have a viable aerodynamic structure and a stable flying vehicle against high wind speeds it was pitted against in the wind tunnel. Even much earlier than this, Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, a renowned Vedic scholar and aeronautical enthusiast, had in 1893 established a laboratory in Mumbai for carrying out practical research and constructed an aircraft model based on Vedic knowledge. To do this, Talpade had referred to the Rigvedadi Bhashya Bhumika and Veda Bhashya texts, which were the works of Swami Dayanand Saraswati. Due to several financial constraints and lack of support, Talpade’s efforts were not fruitful enough to develop an aircraft in a fly-worthy condition. In 1907, Talpade authored and published his Marathi book titled Prachin Vimanakalecha Sodha in Mumbai, which was intended to share the knowledge on aeronautics that he had gained through research.

Chandrayaan – 3: A long history and ‘orbital trail’ of passion and pursuit for scientific excellence

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a long and storied history of rocket development. Its first rocket, the Rohini-1, was launched in 1963. Since then, ISRO has developed a variety of rockets and satellites, including the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), NavIC series of navigation satellites and the Chandrayaan tri-series orbiter. In 2008, ISRO launched the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which included a spacecraft that orbited the Moon and a lander that touched down on the lunar surface.

The Chandrayaan-2 mission was a major milestone for ISRO and helped to put India in the forefront of space exploration which discovered the presence of water ice on moon. The Chandrayaan-3 is the third and most recent Indian lunar exploration mission under the Chandrayaan programme of ISRO. It consists of a lander named ‘Vikram’ and a rover named ‘Pragyan’ similar to Chandrayaan-2. Its propulsion module would act like an orbiter. The main objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are to:

• Soft land the Vikram lander on the lunar surface
• Deploy the Pragyan rover on the lunar surface.
• Conduct scientific experiments on the lunar surface
• Study the lunar surface and its composition
• Search for water ice on the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3 is a major milestone for ISRO and will help to further India’s space exploration capabilities. The mission is also expected to make significant contributions to our understanding of the Moon. Here are some of the scientific experiments that will be conducted by Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface:

• The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) will map the elemental composition of the lunar surface
• The Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC) will take high-resolution images of the lunar surface
• The Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) will create a three-dimensional map of the lunar surface
• The Chandrayaan-3 Laser Rangefinder (LRF) will measure the distance between the spacecraft and the lunar surface
• The Chandrayaan-3 Sounder (CMS) will study the lunar atmosphere and dust.

In short when Chandrayaan – 3 made a successful soft landing on the south pole of the moon it landed with the weight of centuries of India’s quests and efforts towards scientific excellence.