CSIR-NGRI hosts New Year Day Lecture-2024 on India’s Space Prowess
“Our Chandrayaan-3 mission had three main objectives: to demonstrate a soft landing on the Moon, to explore the lunar south pole region, and to conduct scientific experiments using the lander and the rover,” said Dr. ThirthaPratim Das, Director, Space Science Programme ISRO. Participating as chief guest in CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI)’s New Year Day Lecture-2024 on Wednesday (10 January 2024) at its campus in Hyderabad, he explained the objectives, design, and technology of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which carried a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan, both of which touched down near the lunar south pole.
“We designed and developed the mission with improved technology and reliability, based on the lessons learned from Chandrayaan-2. The mission carried a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan, both of which touched down near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023,” he said.
The lecture, being attended by CSIR-NGRI Director Dr. Prakash Kumar, senior scientists, research scholars, students, and media personnel, focused on the scientific context of the Indian lunar exploration programme, which has achieved a historic milestone with the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon on 23 August 2023. He also highlighted the scientific experiments and instruments on board the lander and the rover, which are aimed at studying the lunar surface, subsurface, and environment. He also discussed the data archival and dissemination aspects of the mission, and how the scientific community can access and analyse the data.
Dr. Das also gave an overview of the previous lunar missions of India, namely Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2, and how they contributed to the global understanding of the Moon. He mentioned the discovery of water molecules on the lunar surface by Chandrayaan-1, and the high-resolution mapping of the lunar terrain by Chandrayaan-2. He also acknowledged the challenges and learnings from the failed landing attempt of Chandrayaan-2, and how they motivated ISRO to launch Chandrayaan-3 with improved design and technology.
Dr. Das also touched upon the broader context of the Indian space exploration programme, and its vision and goals for the future. He mentioned the ongoing and planned missions to Mars, Sun, Venus, and asteroids, and the scientific questions and challenges that they seek to address. He also talked about the astronomy missions of India, such as Astrosat, Aditya-L1, and Xposat, and their capabilities and achievements in observing and understanding the cosmos. He also showcased the data repository and portal of ISRO, where the public can access and download the data and images from various space missions.
Dr. Das concluded his lecture by inspiring and encouraging the young students and researchers to pursue space science and technology as their career, and to be system-level thinkers who can take forward the legacy of the Indian space exploration programme. He also answered the queries and doubts of the audience, and shared his insights and experiences on various aspects of space science and technology.
The lecture was followed by a vote of thanks by Dr. Prakash Kumar, who expressed his gratitude to Dr. Das for his enlightening and informative lecture, and to the audience for their active participation. He also emphasized the need of close scientific research collaboration between CSIR-NGRI and ISRO, and hoped that the lecture would spark new ideas and initiatives in this direction. He also wished Dr. Das and ISRO all the best for their future endeavours.
