Space industry, academia celebrate historic Chandrayaan landing
New Delhi, (IANS). The space industry on Wednesday hailed India’s historic achievement of successfully landing the Chandrayaan-3 lander on the south pole of the lunar surface.
After traveling for about 3.84 lakh km for more than 40 days, the lander successfully landed near the South Pole of the Moon.
The Indian Space Association (ISPA) said this significant achievement underscores the growing reach of space and demonstrates India’s unwavering determination and perseverance in accomplishing challenging missions.
“Moreover, it is a positive sign for India’s participation in the emerging Lunar exploration era aimed at establishing permanent structures on the Moon,” the association said.
Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover are the key components in the Chandrayaan-3 mission to be launched from Sriharikota on July 14, 2023.
However, several private companies have contributed to ISRO’s mission — such as Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Walchandnagar Industries, Centum Electronics, Godrej & Boyce and Ananth Technologies.
“The successful landing shows the potential of the Indian space sector and makes India one of the few countries in the world to have achieved this feat. It also heralds exciting opportunities for the private sector,” said Lt Gen AK Bhatt (Retd), Director General, Indian Space Association.
Dr. Subba Rao Pavuluri, Founder and CMD of Ananth Technologies (ATL), thanked ISRO for giving the company the opportunity.
The Hyderabad-headquartered company is contributing to all launch vehicle and satellite missions of ISRO.
ATL played a key role in the development of the Chandrayaan-3 Launch Vehicle (LVM3) by participating in the manufacture of several avionics packages for this mission.
“We are well poised to make significant progress in India’s space sector initiatives and other strategic programmes. Pavuluri said, ATL is ready to play an important role as a partner in the country’s aspiration to achieve self-reliance.
Ashoka University Vice-Chancellor Somak Raychaudhuri said that this is a great achievement for all Indians.
Raychaudhuri said, “Chandrayaan-3 is the culmination of the tireless efforts of our scientists and at the same time, it is an important step forward for our country’s ambitious space programmes.”
“With the new space policy, upcoming missions like Aditya-L1, Gaganyaan and future missions to Mars and beyond, we are preparing for the hitherto unknown frontiers of space,” he added.