Chandrayaan-3 touchdown: Meet the brains behind ISRO's historic lunar mission
India launched its Chandrayaan-3 mission six weeks back. On July 14, ISRO's third mission to the Moon was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
- Aug 23, 2023,
- Updated Aug 23, 2023 5:30 PM IST
Chandrayaan 3 LIVE Updates: India is almost two hours away from making the historic landing on Moon’s south polar region. Chandrayaan-3 landing module, Vikram, along with its rover, is expected to make a soft landing on the Moon around 6.04 pm on Wednesday.
India launched its Chandrayaan-3 mission six weeks back. On July 14, ISRO's third mission to the Moon was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space program.
Earlier, ISRO head S Somanath had said that about 1,000 engineers and scientists have been actively working for the Rs 615-crore mission up and running.
Here's a look at the scientists and experts involved in the historic mission.
S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO
Aerospace engineer Sreedhara Panicker Somanath or S Somanath was instrumental in preparing the design of the rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 or the Bahuballi rocket, that lifted Chandrayaan-3 into orbit. Before the third lunar mission, Somnath was part of a number of missions conducted by ISRO.
Somanath began working at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in 1985, following graduation. During the earlier stages of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle project, he was involved. . He served as the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre — the primary centres for development of rocket technologies for ISRO.
At present, besides Chandrayaan-3, he is heading other significant missions like Aditya-L1 to Sun and Gaganyaan (India's first manned mission).
P Veeramuthuvel, Chandrayaan 3 project director
P Veeramuthuvel joined the Chandrayaan-3 project in 2019. As ISRO's Space Infrastructure Programme Office, he played a key role in the Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan missions. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M). He is known to have keen knowledge of landers and has actively taken part in designing the Vikram Lander.
S Unnikrishnan Nair, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
As the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Nair and his team at VSSC were responsible for developing the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark-III, which is now known as Launch Vehicle Mark-III.
M Sankaran, Director U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC)
M Sankaran, who heads the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), and his team were responsible for creating and building all of India's satellites for ISRO.
He was involved in building the Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan-2 satellites. It was his job to make sure the Chandrayaan-3 satellite was adequately hot and cold-tested and he helped create a lunar surface replica to test the strength of the lander.
At present, he is guiding the team that makes satellites to meet the country's needs in communication, navigation, remote sensing, weather forecasting, and even exploring other planets. He has a Master's degree in Physics.
Kalpana K, Deputy Project Director, Chandrayaan-3 mission
Kalpana K is the Deputy Project Director of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Apart from working on Chandrayaan 3, Kalpana has vivid experience in working on Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan missions.
M Vanitha, Deputy Director, UR Rao Satellite Center, Bengaluru
M Vanitha, who is also the Deputy Director, was the project director for the Chandrayaan-2 mission. She is known to have vivid knowledge of spacecraft and landers. She is an electronics systems engineer and was also the first woman in India to lead a lunar mission.
Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, Senior scientist at ISRO
Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, who is popularly known as India's 'rocket woman,' spearheaded the entire mission. She is a senior scientist at ISRO and was the Deputy Operations Director to India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), Mangalyaan.
Srivastava, the Deputy Operations Director to India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), Mangalyaan, joined ISRO in 1997. Srivastava has published more than 20 papers in international and national publications, and she has worked on many prestigious missions of ISRO, including: The Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), Chandrayaan-1 mission, Chandrayaan-2 mission, GSAT-6A mission, and GSAT-7A mission.
Also read: Chandrayaan-3 landing: From Amitabh Bachchan to Jeff Bezos, celebrities extended wishes to ISRO
Also read: Chandrayaan-3 landing update: ISRO says it is all set for Automatic Landing Sequence
Also read: Chandrayaan-3: If it's so dangerous, why did ISRO pick Moon's south pole to land?
Chandrayaan 3 LIVE Updates: India is almost two hours away from making the historic landing on Moon’s south polar region. Chandrayaan-3 landing module, Vikram, along with its rover, is expected to make a soft landing on the Moon around 6.04 pm on Wednesday.
India launched its Chandrayaan-3 mission six weeks back. On July 14, ISRO's third mission to the Moon was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space program.
Earlier, ISRO head S Somanath had said that about 1,000 engineers and scientists have been actively working for the Rs 615-crore mission up and running.
Here's a look at the scientists and experts involved in the historic mission.
S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO
Aerospace engineer Sreedhara Panicker Somanath or S Somanath was instrumental in preparing the design of the rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 or the Bahuballi rocket, that lifted Chandrayaan-3 into orbit. Before the third lunar mission, Somnath was part of a number of missions conducted by ISRO.
Somanath began working at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in 1985, following graduation. During the earlier stages of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle project, he was involved. . He served as the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre — the primary centres for development of rocket technologies for ISRO.
At present, besides Chandrayaan-3, he is heading other significant missions like Aditya-L1 to Sun and Gaganyaan (India's first manned mission).
P Veeramuthuvel, Chandrayaan 3 project director
P Veeramuthuvel joined the Chandrayaan-3 project in 2019. As ISRO's Space Infrastructure Programme Office, he played a key role in the Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan missions. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M). He is known to have keen knowledge of landers and has actively taken part in designing the Vikram Lander.
S Unnikrishnan Nair, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
As the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Nair and his team at VSSC were responsible for developing the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark-III, which is now known as Launch Vehicle Mark-III.
M Sankaran, Director U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC)
M Sankaran, who heads the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), and his team were responsible for creating and building all of India's satellites for ISRO.
He was involved in building the Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan-2 satellites. It was his job to make sure the Chandrayaan-3 satellite was adequately hot and cold-tested and he helped create a lunar surface replica to test the strength of the lander.
At present, he is guiding the team that makes satellites to meet the country's needs in communication, navigation, remote sensing, weather forecasting, and even exploring other planets. He has a Master's degree in Physics.
Kalpana K, Deputy Project Director, Chandrayaan-3 mission
Kalpana K is the Deputy Project Director of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Apart from working on Chandrayaan 3, Kalpana has vivid experience in working on Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan missions.
M Vanitha, Deputy Director, UR Rao Satellite Center, Bengaluru
M Vanitha, who is also the Deputy Director, was the project director for the Chandrayaan-2 mission. She is known to have vivid knowledge of spacecraft and landers. She is an electronics systems engineer and was also the first woman in India to lead a lunar mission.
Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, Senior scientist at ISRO
Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, who is popularly known as India's 'rocket woman,' spearheaded the entire mission. She is a senior scientist at ISRO and was the Deputy Operations Director to India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), Mangalyaan.
Srivastava, the Deputy Operations Director to India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), Mangalyaan, joined ISRO in 1997. Srivastava has published more than 20 papers in international and national publications, and she has worked on many prestigious missions of ISRO, including: The Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), Chandrayaan-1 mission, Chandrayaan-2 mission, GSAT-6A mission, and GSAT-7A mission.
Also read: Chandrayaan-3 landing: From Amitabh Bachchan to Jeff Bezos, celebrities extended wishes to ISRO
Also read: Chandrayaan-3 landing update: ISRO says it is all set for Automatic Landing Sequence
Also read: Chandrayaan-3: If it's so dangerous, why did ISRO pick Moon's south pole to land?