Chandrayaan missions propelled India into a global player in space technology: Jitendra Singh

Chennai, Jul 15 (PTI) Countries that have explored the Moon till now could not obtain those findings that were procured from Chandrayaan missions, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh said on Saturday.

The Chandrayaan mission, undertaken by Indian space agency ISRO, has placed India as a leading global player as far as space technology is concerned, he said here.

The Indian Space Research Organisation, on July 14, successfully launched its third edition of Moon exploration programme from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, aimed at making a soft landing on the unexplored South Pole of the Moon.

“Even though we started our space journey much later than the other countries, those who landed before us could not procure those findings which were obtained by Chandrayaan (missions),” Singh said.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission is going to extend those experiments, which hint at the possibility of human habitat on the Moon, maybe later in the future, he told reporters.

Singh, who witnessed the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 mission from Sriharikota, located about 135 kilometres from Chennai on July 14, said the outcomes of the Moon mission would be at multiple levels to the benefit of India.

“It (Chandrayaan-3) has placed India as the leading global player as far as space technology is concerned and space sector is concerned,” he said.

Chandrayaan mission was conceptualised by the Centre and formally announced by late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on August 15, 2003.

Chandrayaan-1 mission was successfully launched in October 2008 while Chandrayaan-2 was conceived as a more complex mission as it carried an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan) to explore the unexplored South Pole of the Moon. However, the mission met with an abrupt end as scientists lost communication with the lander before it could make a soft landing on the Moon’s surface.