Chandrayaan-1: India's Historic Conquest of Gravity

share this story

other stories in section

NOVEMBER 8 was a defining moment in the history of India as a civilisation. On that day India became the sixth country in the world to conquer the earth’s gravitational force. The world held its’ breath for a few minutes before ISRO scientists managed the most subtle manoeuvres in history as they remote controlled Chandrayaan-1. Such manoeuvres demanded mathematical and computing precision. But finally, ISRO did it.

An Indian spacecraft is now orbiting the moon. This has far reaching engineering, technological, economic, political, military and diplomatic implications in the 21st century and hopefully may send a positive signal to a smart, technology savvy generation of young, ambitious Indians. ISRO’s future successes would depend on recruitment of new talent – young Indian scientists, technologists and engineers, burning with space age patriotism and fired with imagination, who may take ISRO past NASA in the coming decades.

But to galvanise this generation the necessary efforts would depend on those who swear in the name of and earn their livelihood by teaching and doing science. For a country marvelling at the election of Mr Barak Obama as president-elect of the USA and busy in applauding Mr Sachin Tendulkar’s 40th century, the significance of this triumph is yet to sink in. Perhaps the momentum needs to be built up slowly in our country, which remembered astronaut Kalpana Chawla only after her tragic accidental death.

Otherwise there would have been national jubilation and people would have rushed in to congratulate the excellent teamwork of ISRO scientists in charge of the Chandrayaan mission. Why there should be such a lack of national and local enthusiasm over India’s success in detaching itself from the Earth’s gravitational pull – an invisible umbilical cord which only powerful technology and similar powerful minds behind it could break?

Our country comes to almost a grinding halt when there are solar and lunar eclipses. Majority of Indians are still under the powerful stranglehold of astrology and can’t make any logical distinction between principles and precepts of subjective astrology and objective modern astronomy.

What I found astounding about ISRO’s success in lunar orbit injection of Chandrayaan-1 was the deep and sustained interest shown by the foreign news agencies and media. Within minutes of Chandrayaan-1 entering the lunar orbit, foreign news agencies from Spain to Russia were the first to flash the news. But there was no such priority in our own country. Why do Indians have such under confident and pessimistic views of their country’s progress? Why do millions of students of science, engineering and technology not rise to the occasion to celebrate this great technological triumph? Partially it is our bookish, rot memory focused mass education system imprisoned by dogmatic syllabus. Teachers would not get excited at such a success, stop the class to break the news to the students and explain its’ significance for the country and the world. Conquering gravity was a technological triumph for a country which feels proud of its’ mathematical heritage and proudly recalls a tradition stretching from Varahmihira, Aryabhatt, Brahmgupta, Bhaskarachraya to Ramanujan, Mahalonwis, S Chandrashekhar and D D Kosambi. India did not create the lunar sciences but nourished a rich scriptural, mythological, poetic and romantic moon lore consistent with a pluralistic culture. The desire to understand the universe had always existed. The ancient Sanskrit text ‘Shatapatha Brahmanas’ ( 9.4.1.9) had correctly speculated that – ‘The moon reflects the radiation from sun” (Suryasyeva hi chandramaso rashmaya) much before the foundations of modern lunar sciences were laid down.

For my generation of Indians born around the launching of Sputnik (October 4, 1957) and the birth of space age – the present success of our country in conquering the gravity marks a milestone in self-reliance. The launch vehicle, the spacecraft, the ground control station, the massive antennae, the unique onboard terrain-mapping camera, the intricate software to control the spacecraft were all indigenously designed. This is not a small task. People need to distinguish between productive investment and unproductive expenditure especially after considering the fact that the 20-20 cricket jambori saw a turnover of Rs 3000 crore but benefited only a few. Some tears have been shed on the shoestring budget of Rs 384 crore for Chandrayaan-1 mission but the same concern is absent over the loss of 20 million tonnes of food grains per year attacked by rodents. Money spent on Chandrayaan-1 is a productive investment. Most of it has been spent in India and has benefited to create jobs and technical know how. People who criticise India’s Moon mission seldom quote the revenue earned by Antrix corporation by selling its’ products and services. Antrix Corporation earned revenue of Rs 900 crore last year. The Indian space programme has resulted in transfer of 270 technologies to the industries.

Way back in 1996, the former chairman of India’s space commission, Mr U R Rao had written a tome – ‘Space technology for sustainable development’ where he has quoted from ex-PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s scientific policy resolution adopted by the Indian Parliament in 1958. It is very much relevant today when we look at ISRO’s success. A visionary leader like Nehru had said – “It is an inherent obligation of a great country like India with its traditions of scholarship and original thinking and its great cultural heritage, to participate fully in the march of science, which is probably mankind’s greatest enterprise today”.

If India intends to become an economic superpower then we need to aim, think and plan like a superpower. Chandrayaan-1 has an unwritten message for the world – India has arrived as a potential space superpower. It is India’s force projection, a demonstration of capability, which has complex military and geo-strategic ramifications. The ISRO team may not stop at the success of Chandrayaan-1. The experience, knowledge and capacity acquired in the Chandrayaan mission would be useful in launching many new generation ‘Made in India’ spacecrafts. A positive fallout of Chandrayaan-1 mission’s success so far is the interest shown by some NRI scientists to come back and join ISRO.

Perhaps sensing this, the President-elect Mr Barack Obama who clearly considers India and China as competitors to US supremacy had remarked on October 24 – “The US should not only retain its space workforce so that it does not let other nations surpass its technical capabilities, but it would also need to train new scientists and engineers for the next generation.” President-elect Mr Obama understood the importance of India’s Chandrayaan mission which he thought was a “wake up call to America, and should remind the nation that it was getting complacent or sloppy about maintaining its position as the foremost nation in space exploration.” When a visionary president-elect of USA has said these words while grudgingly acknowledging India’s arrival as a space superpower – what more we can say? Congratulations team ISRO!