Modi hails scientists behind India’s lunar mission

Upon returning from his foreign trip to South Africa and Greece,  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited national space agency headquarters to personally congratulate scientists behind the nation’s lunar mission that landed on the Moon this week. 

The prime minister lauded the team of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists, who were instrumental in the success of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission.

“I could not restrain my excitement, even during my overseas visit, and thus I resolved to come to Bengaluru first and foremost to meet our exceptional scientists upon my return to India,” Prime Minister Modi expressed upon setting foot in the capital of southern Karnataka state, the IT hub of the country often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India.

“We have our national pride placed on the Moon! We have reached a place where no one has reached before!” Modi said proudly. Chandrayaan-3’s lander Virkam performed a historic soft landing on the Earth’ natural satellite August 23, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon. 

ISRO Chairman S Somanath briefed PM Modi about the mission’s 40-day journey, and the efforts of scientists behind the ambitious project. On Friday,  ISRO the spacecraft’s Pragyan rover successfully traversed a distance of about eight meters on the lunar surface. The space agency released two videos, showing the rover rolling out from the lander onto the lunar surface. The video was captured by the lander imager camera on Wednesday. The second video shows the deployment of the ramp from the lander module prior to the roll-out of the rover and deployment of the solar panel of the rover.

In his address, Modi said the entire world is “witnessing and accepting the strength of India’s scientific spirit, our technology and our scientific temperament.” The Indian leader also  claimed that after having successfully landed its mission on the Moon, India will solve bigger problems of the world. Praising ISRO scientists, PM Modi said they have “built an artificial Moon at ISRO research facility to test the soft landing of the lander. “The lander was bound to succeed as it passed several tests before going [to the Moon],” he asserted.

Prime minister took the opportunity to announce that August 23 will be celebrated as ‘National Space Day’ in honor of the successful touchdown of Chandrayaan-3’s lander. He also stated that the specific location where Chandrayaan-3’s lander made its lunar contact would be called ‘Shivshakti’, signifying the fusion of cosmic forces.

In a nod to India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission which failed to soft land on the Moon in 2019, PM Modi revealed plans to commemorate the site where the mission’s lander left its mark on the lunar surface as ‘Tiranga Point’, symbolizing the Indian tricolor flag. “This will be an inspiration for every effort made by India. it will remind us that any failure is not final… If there is a strong willpower, then success is bound to happen,” PM added.

Chandrayaan-3 set off from Earth on July 14 from a launchpad in Sriharikota in southern India. The mission due to run experiments for two weeks, which is equivalent to one lunar day, at the Moon’s south pole, where traces of water ice have been detected by NASA in the region’s shadowed craters. The Pragyan rover will carry out a series of experiments on the surface of the moon, communicating the data to the Vikram lander, which will then send it to Earth.

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