Dr. M. K. Chattopadhyay
Former Scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR), Hyderabad
Email: mdhab.ccmb@gmail.com
Achievement of Chandrayyan - 3August 23, 2023 is a memorable day in the history of Indian space research. On this day Chandrayaan-3, the third Indian lunar exploration mission that was launched on July 14, 2023 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, (Andhra Pradesh, India), landed on the South Pole of the moon. Never before has such a feat been accomplished. It was not achieved by any other nation. This was the first time that people of the world visualized an actual picture of the lunar South Pole.
Appreciation received from the world community Government of India as well as the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was flooded with compliments from different corners of the world. Virendra Sharma, Member of British Parliament, congratulated the Indian scientists and said, “The whole world is happy. Indians all over the world are happy.”Member of the House of Lords of the UK Parliament, Lord Rami Ranger, congratulated the people of India and said “Today history was made as no other country landed their craft on the South Pole of the Moon”. The UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed said: “The successful lunar landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft represents a significant leap for collective scientific progress. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of India for this historic achievement in service of humankind.” The EU President said “Congratulations to @narendramodi for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3. A historic milestone and proud moment for the Indian people. India has become a true pioneer in space exploration. This Indian success will benefit researchers all over the world.” Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister of Spain, said: “India’s achievement opens up new horizons for humanity. This mission is another proof of the power of science and of the great opportunities it offers us to keep promoting scientific progress and research.” According to the President of Madagascar, the success belongs to all humanity. The Prime Minister of Bhutan commented “Like you all, we said our prayers and held breath with as much as nervousness and excitement, because we know this is not just about India”.The American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson congratulated India for landing Chandrayaan-3 on the moon and joining Russia, USA and China as the only countries to achieve this feat. The NASA administrator Bill Nelson tweeted “Congratulations @isro on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We're glad to be your partner on this mission”.
Criticism at home and abroad While the whole nation celebrated the success of the moon mission with joy and pride, some people expressed a skewed and contrary view of the endeavour. According to their argument, it makes no sense for a country inhabited by millions of impoverished people to send a spaceship to distant celestial bodies. They further alleged that, unable to satisfy the basic needs of a large number of countrymen, the government undertook such a costly program only to divert the attention of the people from its failures. The BBC criticized India over the moon mission and commented that the Indian government, instead of spending money on space program, should focus on improving the condition of the poor and the downtrodden section of its population. Another British media house CBN supported BBC and even demanded refund of the 23 billion pounds received by India as foreign aid, during the years 2016 to 2021.
Some of the opposition leaders, while congratulating the scientists, chose to give the credit to a former Prime Minister, citing distorted “historical facts”. Some intellectuals penned sarcastic poems and posted derogatory comments against the whole project in the social media. A sarcastic post on Chandrayaan-3 by a celebrity triggered a controversy, but following a backlash, he clarified that the post had reference to an old joke.
A never-ending debate As a matter of fact, the debate on the appropriateness of sending a spaceship from a country populated by millions of poor people, appears to be never-ending. Some people seem to have a strong opinion in this regard. According to them, the government should first ensure that every citizen of the country gets food, clothing, accommodation, healthcare and basic education. Following the message of Swami Vivekananda, “So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every person a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them”, they lambast the government for “cheating people with a gimmick”.
Technological achievement ignored However, fact still remains that technology is the foundation of modern civilization. We require modern technology to solve various problems in the production of food and medicines, two essential requirements for sustaining life. Technology is also required for providing telecommunication and transport at a moderate cost. It is also essential for the protection of life and property of the citizens of the country from external and internal threats. The success of Moon Mission-3 has left nobody in doubt that the Indian scientists bear the potential to solve the challenging problems in technology. Following the failure of Chandrayyan-2 in September 2019, the painstaking effort made by the ISRO scientists to locate the mistake and to fix it, remains as an example of tenacity and resolve in the history of science research. The fact, that the success of Chandrayyan-3 was achieved using indigenous technology with minimum cost compared to the technology and cost of the moon missions in other countries, underscores the acumen of our scientists. An analytical and informative article by Pratik Kanjilal, the editor of the Indian Cable (a daily newsletter), reveals “The Martian and lunar missions slashed costs by using the angular momentum of the craft in the earth’s gravitational field to sling it towards its target, reducing the need for fuel. This is not jugaad but a completely scientific idea-Arthur C. Clarke used it in an epic science fiction film titled2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968, a year before Apollo 11 set off for the moon. Apart from that, the cost of inputs, from human resources to rivets, are low in India.” (The New Indian Express, September 16, 2023). The congratulatory messages received from all over the world speak volumes of the capability and also affirm the magnitude of achievement of our scientists.
Nehru’s stand vis-a vis myopia of the critics
It must be appreciated that the policy-makers of a country have to ensure progress in every sector simultaneously. The disparagement of the critics, who condemn the emphasis of the government on space research in a developing country like ours, reveal their short-sightedness. They choose to ignore the fact that progress in one sector cannot be stymied or postponed for the sake of rapid progress in some other field. That is why, the visionary first Prime Minister of India Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru encouraged the formation
of INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for Space Research which was later superseded by ISRO),BARC(Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) and also the Lalit Kala Academy during the 1950s, when the country was reeling under the problem of food shortage. He aptly foresaw that if activities in the fields of science research and fine arts were frozen for the sake of giving priority to the food problem, we would lose many talents, because of the lack of opportunity to get trained and contribute to the future of the
country. His far-sighted outlook is vindicated by the fact that during the past few decades we got a number of top-notch scientists and performing artists, who bought laurels for India. Moreover, the mission of ISRO was not to compete with any other nation but to focus on some down to earth issues like imaging for earth sciences, weather forecast, and establishment of geostationary satellites to run the TV stations for national integrity. Hence the propaganda that the space research program of our government is nothing but a gimmick to divert the attention of people, does not hold water. The indication, obtained from the data generated by Chandrayyan-3, that water might be available in the moon, put India on the forefront of scientific investigations on the selenodesy (geography of the moon)since no other moon mission, performed by any other nation, could give such a hint earlier. Therefore, let us ignore the tongue-in-cheek comments made by some of the intellectuals, applaud our scientists for their significant achievements and wish them success in their future endeavors.
