Modi hails scientists behind India’s lunar mission

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

The prime minister praised the team of Indian Space Research Organization (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,” Modi said on his trip to the capital of the state of Karnataka, the IT hub of the country known 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. Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander performed a soft landing on August 23, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the south pole of the Moon. 

ISRO Chairman S Somanath briefed Modi about the mission’s 40-day journey and the efforts of the scientists behind the project. On Friday, the spacecraft’s Pragyan rover successfully traversed a distance of around eight meters on the lunar surface.

The space agency released two videos – one showing the rover rolling out from the lander onto the lunar surface. The second 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.”

Hailing the ISRO scientists, Modi said they “built an artificial Moon” at the ISRO research facility to test the soft landing. “The lander was bound to succeed as it passed several tests before going [to the Moon].”

The prime minister took the opportunity to announce that August 23 will be celebrated as National Space Day, in honor of the successful Moon landing. He also stated that the spot where the Chandrayaan-3 lander made contact will be called ‘Shivshakti’, signifying the fusion of cosmic forces.

In a nod to India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission which failed to land on the Moon in 2019, 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,” he said.

Chandrayaan-3 set off from Earth on July 14 from a launchpad in Sriharikota in southern India. The mission is set to conduct experiments for two weeks (one lunar day) at the Moon’s south pole, where traces of water ice have been detected by NASA. 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.