Chandrayaan - India's moonshot

On August 23, 2023, India’s “Chandrayaan” mission made history by becoming the first country to land a craft (called “Vikram”) and a rover (called “Pragyaan”) close to the moon’s South Pole. This achievement also propelled India into the elite club of just four countries that have managed to ever land a craft of any kind on the moon.

ISRO’s stupendous success

The success of Chandrayaan-3 threw the entire country into a state of ecstatic celebration and the scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, became (very well deserved) celebrities overnight. This historic milestone felt personal to every Indian. ISRO achieved every single mission objective including a soft-landing, followed by successfully having the rover drive on the moon and run experiments on the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
🔍What's new here?

Pragyan rover roams around Shiv Shakti Point in pursuit of lunar secrets at the South Pole 🌗! pic.twitter.com/1g5gQsgrjM

— ISRO (@isro) August 26, 2023

India has a lot to be proud of, given the entire mission was homegrown, including the rocket on which the payload was sent into orbit, the hardware and software that injected the spacecraft into orbit and controlled the orbital maneuvers, etc.

The South Pole of the moon is an interesting place to explore given the strong hypothesis of the presence of frozen water underneath the surface. The discovery of water on the moon will enable permanent lunar bases can become possible with the water there providing a mechanism for the production fo energy and sustenance of human life. Let’s hope Pragyaan finds evidence of water on the moon!

An arduous journey

India’s space journey has not been an easy one. ISRO was established in the sixties with barely any infrastructure or support. Emerging from centuries of brutal colonial occupation that devastated the country’s economy, India could barely afford the luxiries of space exploration with other critical sectors needing more attention. On a shoestring budget, ISRO’s scientists had little more than their own grit and dogged determination to rely on. But bit by bit, they inched forward on their vision. Fighting massive brain-drain, ISRO kept attracting India’s top talent - engineers, physicists, metallurgical experts, fabricators, scientists - including many famous scientists like Dr. Abdul Kalam who later went on to become India’s president.

While ISRO kept making progress, India’s political establishment not only paid scant attention to the organization, but actively acted against it! In an infamous case, one of the top scientists, Nambi Narayanan, was falsely accused of espionage and arrested just when he was at the verge of developing India’s first cryogenic engine. After a long and traumatic incarceration, Nambi Narayanan was acquitted by the courts and cleared of all charges. This incident set India back a couple of decades. But ISRO relentlessly trudged on.

WATCH: Ex ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, who was irresponsibly framed by the then Kerala government, has this to say on why India could never send a misision to moon despite having brilliant scientists at work

🔴We didnt even have a jeep or a car at ISRO to travel to do… pic.twitter.com/7scMj30SuV

— The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) August 27, 2023

Towards the turn of the century, the business of launching satellites (navigational, weather, etc.) started becoming big business and ISRO saw a role for itself in this global market. It’s development of rockets now found purchase with foreign countries who found ISRO’s satellite-launching services to be a safe and reliable but much cheaper alternative to even their own homegrown launch solutions. ISRO was now making money, and along with it, it started gaining in importance with the polity.

Eventually, “Chandrayaan” (‘Chandra’ being Sanskrit for moon, and ‘yaan’ meaning vehicle) was conceived. Chandrayaan-1 was a technology demonstrator that managed to successfully hard-land on the moon. Chandrayaan-2, in 2019, attempted a soft-landing. In a gut-wrenching anti-climax of sorts, the mission seemed to go perfectly until the last couple of minutes when the lander lost communication with the base of operations and crash landed on the moon.

Chandrayaan-3, finally, made it with a picture perfect landing. And the rocket that carried Vikram and Pragyaan used engines designed by the very same Nambi Narayanan.

Inspiring India’s next generation

From Sputnik to Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, humanity has always come together as one in celebrating our collective exploration into the vast expanse of the universe beyond us. Space is a unifying and inspiring objective, and Chandrayaan has captured the imagination of India’s youth in a way that little else could. This win feels personal to everyone; the moon now has geographical points named after Tiranga (tricolor, symbolizing the Indian flag), and ShivShakti (a reference to Lord Shiva and the female cosmic energy represented by Shakti). Suddenly, nothing is out of reach for the average Indian. Nothing is impossible. An entire generation of scientists, engineers, and physicists will now grow up with the self-confidence that comes from knowing that they can do whatever they set their minds to.

ISRO now has missions planned to study the Sun (called Aditya-L1), Gaganyaan, a crewed orbital spacecraft to demonstrate human spaceflight, and Mangalyaan, India’s mission to Mars.

The new generation of scientists and explorers who will make all of this happen will do so by standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before them. ISRO shared a picture that captures this sentiment perfectly: It’s a composite of their very early days when rocket parts were literally carried on bullock carts and bicycles, and today, when they’ve literally planted their flag on the moon.