New Delhi: India’s Chandrayaan-3 satellite has been in the making for four years and many teams worked even as the country faced the Covid-19 pandemic. ISRO Chairman S Somanath says almost 1,000 engineers and scientists would have worked to get the nearly ₹ 700 crore mission up and running. NDTV’s Pallava Bagla handpicks some who were critical to the making of Chandrayaan-3.

S Somanath, an aerospace engineer, helped in the design of the rocket the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 or the Bahuballi rocket that lifted Chandrayaan-3 into orbit. He is seen as an able leader whom the scientists and engineers at ISRO look up to. As head of the Indian space agency, it was his responsibility to make sure the Chandrayaan-3 satellite was fully tested before it was rocketed up. An alumnus from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, he can speak Sanskrit and has acted in a Sanskrit film titled Yaanam. His name Somanath means `Lord of the Moon’.

He heads India’s key facility for research on rocketry. He is an aerospace engineer who is spearheading India’s effort to send an astronaut into space. An alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, he was the first director of the Human Space Flight Center and many critical missions for Gaganyaan program have been led by him. The Launch Vehicle Mark 3 has had a 100 per cent success record under his leadership. He also writes short stories.

Mr Veeramuthuvel, project director for the Chandrayaan-3 mission, has for the last four years lived a life that revolves around India’s third lunar outing. He has a Masters of Technology degree from Chennai and was involved with the Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan missions. His heritage knowledge of the lander Vikram, which failed in 2019, has led to the making of a much more robust Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Kalpana K kept the Chandrayaan-3 team working despite the hardships of the Covid pandemic. An engineer who has dedicated her life to making India’s satellites, she was involved both in the Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan missions….Read More

Source By: ndtv

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