‘‘O Almighty, create thoughts and actions in the minds of the people of my nation so that they live united. Help all religious leaders of my country give strength to the people to combat the forces of division. Embed the thought “Nation is bigger than the Individual” in the minds of the leaders and people. O God bless my people to work and transform the country into a prosperous nation soon.” – Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India, Penguin, New Delhi, 2002, p. 97,
In 1980, Bharat achieved an incredible feat when the team in ISRO launched the satellite launch vehicle and put the Rohini Satellite into low-earth orbit. For his contribution to the mission as the project director, when the Union Government conferred Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam with Padma Bhushan, his reaction was, “I saw Prof. Sarabhai smiling with a sense of achievement— the sapling which he had planted twenty years ago had finally grown into a tree whose fruits were being appreciated by the people of Bharat”. On August 23, 2023, on the successful soft-landing of Vikram lander, along with Prof Vikram Sarabhai, whose name the lander carried to the Moon, the legacy of scientists, including Dr APJ Kalam must be smiling and blessing the team of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for its achievement. Due to the content, intent and execution of this mission, entire nation is rejoicing this historical moment.
The joy and excitement of the scientific community and ordinary Bharatiyas knew no bounds. The world is applauding. More than eight million people watched the live-streaming of the successful mission, which is a record. In Bharat, it was a moment of reconnecting with a relative. The Moon and the Sun are the most familiar objects in the sky. In Bharat, each language has songs and stories connecting to the maternal uncle Moon. Mother Earth has a special relationship with this brother in our solar family. The way Bharat has seen the universe from our astronomical prism makes this mission unique beyond the conventional understanding of race to the Moon.
Despite the denial of space technology by the superpowers and economic constraints, Bharat has taken this giant leap forward with home-grown technology. The soft landing of Vikram was successful within a few days of Russia’s failed mission, Luna25, further enhancing the scientific prowess of Bharat in space technology. Bharat is only the fourth country to successfully land its satellite on the Moon and the first ever on the South Pole area. After a couple of semi-successful missions in 2008 and 2019, our scientists went into self-correction mode and attained the set objectives, which is a matter of great satisfaction. Due to the perseverance and passion of leading scientists and their unknown team members, ‘Pragyan Rover’ – symbol of Bharatiya wisdom could roll on to the Lunar surface. The South Pole region is considered an area of scientific and strategic interest as it is believed to be home to water ice deposits. As the rover has two instruments that will conduct element and chemical composition experiments, the robotic path planning exercise will be critical for future exploration of the nature of the moon’s surface. The orbiter will study Earth from the Moon, giving us a fresh perspective about Mother Earth.
The space sector is a vast economy valued at around $ 425 billion (Rs. 35.09 lakh crores). The competition is to explore and exploit resources available on the lunar surface and beneath it. The US mission is spending roughly $ 93 billion (Rs 7.58 lakh crores) on its Artemis moon programme scheduled in 2025. Russia’s Luna-25, which ended as a failure, cost approximately $ 200 million (Rs 1600 crores). In comparison, ISRO had a budget of around $74 million (Rs 613 crores) for the Chandrayaan3, the most cost-effective space mission. ISRO and the Chandrayaan missions are epitomes of the vision envisaged by Dr Kalam, where he expected people to ‘to work and transform the country into a prosperous nation’. The record set by Chandrayaan-3 should inspire other walks of national life to work with the same passion for the mission of national reconstruction and establish greater coordination between the Research & Development laboratories, industry, academic institutions, and policymakers.
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