Hours before Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module's proposed soft landing on the Lunar surface, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Sivan said on Friday things are progressing as per plan for the much-awaited event.
Vikram (with rover 'Pragyan' housed inside) is expected to touch down on the lunar surface on September 7, between 1.30 am and 2.30 am.
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The 56 and-a-half hour countdown for the launch of India's first space mission to Mars, slated for November 5, commenced on Sunday at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
India's premier space agency Indian Space Research Organisation plans to undertake 58 satellite and launch vehicle missions in the 12th Five year period and sees larger role for industries in realising these ventures.
India will boldly go to Venus for the first time and re-visit the Red Planet very soon.
Jarange appealed to Shinde and his deputies to come together and resolve the issue of Maratha quota, an emotive issue which has been dominating the state's political discourse for the last few months.
"The panel's report is awaited. The committee has been given a guideline to prepare the mission before the end of next year," a senior ISRO official said. "There is a good launch window in November".
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.
He said the test vehicle is ready at Sriharikota and the assembly work of the crew module and crew escape system has also begun.
All spacecraft parameters are normal, the Bengaluru headquartered space agency said after the maneuver.
'ISRO takes a very cautious approach.' 'After reaching the moon, the orbit has to be brought down from a single elliptical orbit to a circular orbit while simultaneously ensuring the stability of Chandrayaan 3 and the health parameters of the lander and rover.'
It has already tasted success with the moon mission and Mangalyaan. Is man in space the next frontier for ISRO?
'It is a blessing in disguise that they could find the glitch before the launch.' 'If this was not found, the entire mission would have been lost.'
The Propulsion Module (PM) of Chandrayaan-3 has been moved from an orbit around the Moon to an orbit around Earth, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said, terming the operation a unique experiment.
On Monday, ISRO scientists will run a test of the Mars orbiter satellite's main engine and make a small course correction. This is crucial because the engine has been idle for nearly 10 months. T E Narasimhan reports
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.
"We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of approximately 170 warheads. The US Defense Intelligence Agency projected in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020, but several new weapon systems have been fielded and developed since then, which leads us to a higher estimate," the Nuclear Notebook column published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on September 11 said.
ISRO chairman K Sivan said the proposed soft-landing was going to be a 'terrifying' moment.
Dr P K Menon, Chief Scientist and CEO, Optimal Synthesis Inc, who worked with Dr A P J Abdul Kalam early on in his career, recalls what it was like working for his first boss.
Once ISRO masters the technology to send humans into space, the next step will be experimenting with technologies allowing humans to live in space.
Contributors to Team Indus project will have names etched on an object going to space.
Weighing 320 tonne at lift-off, the vehicle used larger strap-on motors to achieve higher payload capability.
The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft is expected to reach the moon's orbit on August 20 and land on lunar surface on September 7.
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
Lack of access to the cosmonaut training programmes would also be a hindrance for ISRO's planned manned missions, explains Devangshu Datta.
G Madhavan Nair also propounded the theory that some shlokas in the Vedas mentioned about the presence of water on the moon
NASA said it is looking forward to explore the solar system with its Indian counterpart.
I suggest we build a Vigyan Mandir (Temple of Science) with the ambience of a place of worship, so that it becomes a destination for pilgrims. We should embed on its walls bronze plaques describing each scientist mentioned here along with about a dozen of our ancient mathematicians, recommends Professor Kalyan Singhal, historian of science and technology.
There appears to be uncertainty over availability of a lander from Russia even as the 'desi' rocket to launch the space odyssey would take time to become operational.
India and France on Friday signed 17 agreements, including on the stalled nuclear project in Jaitapur in Maharashtra, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with French President Francois Hollande.
Ahead of India's Mars orbiter's scheduled rendezvous with the red planet on September 24, ISRO is all set for the crucial fourth trajectory correction manoeuvre and test fire of the main liquid engine on the spacecraft on Monday.
Although Russia, United States and China have achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface, India is aiming at becoming the first one to explore the south pole of the Moon.
The Mars mission is overwhelmingly irrelevant to space science and won't advance the frontiers of knowledge. It will divert attention from the real technological challenges facing the Indian space programme, and will further distort our science and technology priorities, says Praful Bidwai.
As NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars to look for signs of past life, ISRO chief K Sivan said India's next mission to the Red Planet is likely to be an orbiter.
In a shot in the arm for Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, founded by high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, the California-based company scripted history when its Falcon-9 rocket booster successfully landed at Cape Canaveral after despatching 11 communications satellites to orbit.
'India must close the missile technology gap with both China and Pakistan as early as possible, or else the credibility of India's nuclear deterrence will remain suspect,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The last session of Parliament started off on a noisy note as pro and anti-Telangana MPs sparred with each other on the floor of the two houses.
