ISRO :- An Emotion Of 140 Crore Indians.
The rivalry between these nations, and their respective Ally groups, in that period is famously referred to as the Cold War.
It is because this was not a direct militant war between the superpowers, but a struggle to express world dominance, and sort of global influence. USA majorly being Capitalist, and USSR being Communist; this was very much an ideological war.
The rivalry between the superpowers express themselves in sports diplomacy, for instance, in chess (Bobby Fishcer VS Boris Spassky WC and other cases), in the field of science and technological advancements, most prominently as Space Race!
While USA and USSR was politically pressurising all nations of the world to pick a side to stay loyal to, we saw a glimpse India's robust Foreign Policy ambitions, which are to always have a neutral stance and appear as a bridging factor in uniting world superpowers.
The then PM of India Jawaharlal Nehru proposed to the developing and underdeveloped nations the idea of "Non-alignment" in order to avoid messing in first world problems and focus on self-development.
Friends, this was the time when America was launching its Apollo missions, USSR was launching its Sputnik and Luna missions back to back; while India was still recovering from its past horrors of colonisation. Looted already - weak in economical sense it already was, that the partition of the country also rose communal tensions.
The country almost daily saw famines and riots. Our scientists were busy figuring out how are we supposed to even feed our country.
Mind you, none was yet talking about even the basic literacy rate improvement, education of the masses and such 'luxurious plans'. We were concerned feeding our population, controlling it's massive magnitude. Our leaders were figuring out how to govern this country. The idea of 'space exploration' was far off, considering the fact that our masses had broken their backs serving the Sahebs, never even daring to look at the sky with our heads high.
And yet amidst this terrible position to be in, the Mother was arising. It's children never stopped dreaming big, aspiring high. It was as if an irresistible force was pulsating our nerves to rise again.
On the suggestion of the hero of our story Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, The Indian National Committee Of Space Research (INCOSPAR) was set up by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962.
Initially there was no dedicated ministry for the space programme and all activities of INCOSPAR relating to space technology continued to function within the DAE - Department of Atomic Energy.
Well, then in 1970s and 80s we grew into a Space Agency called ISRO which initially experimented on sounding rockets, then slowly launched Aryabhatta, it's very first artificial satellite, using the aid of USSR's launch pad from interkosmos.
We'll dedicate a separate blog on the humble beginnings of our dear ISRO and how it grew to become one of the best space agencies in the world.
For now, let's talk a bit about the Chandrayaan Missions and their objectives.
Chandrayaan 1
Chandrayaan-1 was India's first deep space mission.
India's Chandrayaan-1 played a crucial role in the discovery of water molecules on the Moon.
Among its suite of instruments, it carried NASA's Moon Minerology Mapper (M3), an imaging spectrometer helped confirm the discovery of water locked in minerals on the Moon.
The aid that we took from NASA this time, too reflects our fantastic Foreign Policy and our inclusive mindset of mutual growth.
Chandrayaan 2
The unique objective of this mission was to conduct a soft landing on moon's South polar region; a feet never achieved by any country in the world.
Chandrayaan-2 was made up of 3 part; Orbiter, VIKRAM Lander and PRAGYAN Rover. But it was not completely successful mission because lander crash landed on the lunar surface with rover.
However, the orbiter was still functioning and played a very important role in executing Chandrayaan 3.
The orbiter is mapping the Moon’s topography, investigating the surface's mineralogy and elements, studying the lunar exosphere, and looking for signatures of water ice.
Chandrayaan 3
Again, the rocket consisted of the improved VIKRAM lander and PRAGYAN rover. It did not need the orbiter this time, as CY-2 orbiter was already established into moon's orbit.
To know about the specifics of the Chandrayaan 3 mission, like how it was executed, what are the parts of the rover, etc. I suggest you all to watch Dhruv Rathee's video on it. I've seen many videos covering CY-3's success and this was the most informative video of them all.
I could have covered it in our blog itself but it's not humanly possible to type in all the details of the mission myself. Hence, in this blog we have covered the intentions and past inspirations of the Chandrayaan 3 Mission, also knowing the world context too.
Best feature of ISRO :- Cost Effective Missions
The reason why ISRO is a contendor of the best space agency in the world is it's budget-friendliness.
Not only ISRO saves taxpayers' money by launching cost-effective missions and still making our country proud again and again; it also does make rockets and space gadgets for other countries.
ISRO earns $279 million in foreign exchange through satellite launches.
India has launched 431 satellites for 34 countries as of 30 July 2023.
Coming back to its cost-effectiveness,
- India's Mars Orbiter Mission Mangalyaan at $74 million had cost less than the movie 'Gravity' which had cost nearly $100 million. NASA's similar Mars mission, Maven, had cost nearly 10 times more.
- Once again, the low cost of Chandrayaan-3 is being highlighted by comparing it to movies. At nearly $75 million, it is cheaper than 2014 sci-fi movie 'Interstellar' and even the recent Bollywood movie 'Adipurush' which cost slightly more than the mission.
Then ISRO chairman Dr K Sivan had explained the frugal nature of India's space and interplanetary missions to TOI a few years ago. "Simplifying the system, miniaturising the complex big system, strict quality control and maximising output from a product make our space missions frugal and cost-effective. We keep a strict vigil on each and every stage of development of a spacecraft or a rocket and, therefore, we are able to avoid wastage of products, which helps us minimise the mission cost," he said.
Dr. Shashi Tharoor's Eye-opening tweet.
Just as we are discussing ISRO, let us also know the background of some of Chandrayaan-3's scientists. First of all, once again, there were many many female scientists and workforce who helped in CY3's success.
I would like to bring to your notice this amazing fun fact Shashi Tharoor, the Congress MP, shared :-
"Worth applauding: @ISRO chief Dr Somanath is a product of the TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, Kerala and many of his colleagues graduated from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET). At least seven more engineers from CET were involved in the #Chandrayaan3Success.
Indians are rightly obsessed with the IITs, but let's salute the alumni of unsung engineering colleges who serve the public sector with dedication & who are the backbone of national enterprises like @ISRO.
IITians went to Silicon Valley; CETians took us to the moon!
So this is all the emotions that I wanted to share with you all - witnessing this golden era, with "India" written on it.
Thanks,
Daksh Parekh.
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