India's 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam in Chennai has achieved first criticality, marking a significant advancement in the country's nuclear energy capabilities and long-term energy security.
In many ways, this is only the beginning -- of a new chapter in India's nuclear story, and of a future where its vast thorium reserves could finally power its ambitions.
The space agency said the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), located at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru, is buzzing with energy and excitement.
ISRO on Monday said a two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and Chandrayaan-3's Lunar Module has been established.
The next operation - reduction of orbit- will be done at 11 PM on Sunday, ISRO added.
Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander 'Vikram' chose a relatively flat region on the lunar surface to touch down, images captured by its camera showed.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), ISRO said, "Chandrayaan-3 Mission. Chandrayaan-3 Rover to MOX, ISTRAC, Moon walk begins!"
Here is a glimpse of the journey of India's third lunar exploration venture has taken so far.
Interspersing their tweets and posts with an occasional 'Welcome buddy!' and 'Thanks for the ride, Mate!', ISRO's social media handles occasionally departed from using just technical terms to give updates about India's ambitious Moon mission Chandrayaan-3.
In a giant leap for its space programme, India's Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.
August 23, the day the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface, would be celebrated as 'National Space Day'.
Even as the scientists and staff at Mission Operations Complex broke into applause, the core team members thanked all those who had worked on the mission. Quietly and without jingoistic boasting of their stupendous achievement. And that is the most remarkable aspect of ISRO -- they let their work do the talking, notes Minnie Vaid, author of Those Magnificent Women And Their Flying Machines, ISRO's Mission to Mars.
India will become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the lunar surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.
Star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia kept himself in the medal race by reaching the semi-finals even as three of his compatriots faded in the men's freestyle competition at the World Championship, in Budapest, on Sunday.
Nail-biting moments gave way to celebratory mood at the command centre of Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore on Wednesday, as its Mars Orbiter Mission or Mangalyaan entered the red planet's orbit.
Ranbaxy Laboratories, in a release issued to the BSE on Thursday, said the US Food and Drug Administration has granted the company permission to market DisperMox (amoxicillin tablets for oral suspension - 200mg and 400mg).\n\n
There will be two more orbit manoeuvres to make the spacecraft enter into its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon's surface.
All spacecraft parameters are normal, the Bengaluru headquartered space agency said after the maneuver.
Two de-orbit manoeuvres of Vikram Lander, to bring it further down, have been planned to prepare for its landing in the south polar region of the moon.
The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft is expected to reach the moon's orbit on August 20 and land on lunar surface on September 7.
'The unflappable temperament and nerves of steel under extreme pressure -- essential ingredients in space research -- were on full display in the rows occupied by the scientists still engrossed in their monitor screens,' says Minnie Vaid, author of Those Magnificent Women And Their Flying Machines, ISRO's Mission to Mars.
