ChA NASA delegation visiting ISRO headquarters before the launch of the Ndrayaan mission was surprised to see the development of cutting-edge technologies at low cost and asked if the technologies could be shared with them, said ISRO Chairman S. Somnath.
On the occasion of the 92nd birthday of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. He was addressing the students while participating in the commemoration program organized by APJ Abdul Kalam Foundation.
We are a very strong country. Do you recognize it? Our country’s knowledge and intelligence is one of the best in the world. He said.
While Chandrayaan 3 was being designed and developed, we invited experts from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which builds rockets and manages complex missions for NASA. Five or six people reached the ISRO headquarters. We explained to them about Chandrayaan. This is before the soft landing of Chandrayaan on August 23.
We explained to them how we designed it, how our engineers built it, how we were going to land on the lunar surface.
Their response was ‘nothing to say, everything is going well’.
‘Look at those scientific instruments, they are very cheap. Sophisticated ones that are very easy to make. How did you build it? Why don’t you sell it to America?’ they asked. – says Somnath.
Then you (students) must understand that times have changed. We are capable of making the best equipment and rockets in India. That is why our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened the space sector. He added.
You all should come and build rockets and satellites and make our country more powerful in space technology. Not just ISRO, everyone can do it. There is a company called Agnikul that manufactures rockets in Chennai. There is another company in Hyderabad called Skyroute. India alone has five companies manufacturing satellites and rockets today. Chairman ISRO told the students.
Kalam sir told you to dream while awake and not at night. How many people dream like that? Who wants to go to the moon?
When Chandrayaan 3 landed on the moon, I informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about India’s landing on the moon. When will you put an Indian on the moon, he asked. Some of you here will do the job. Some will design rockets to go to the moon. He said.
One of you will be sitting on that rocket during the launch of Chandrayaan 10. It can sometimes be a girl. A female astronaut will leave from India and land on the moon. The students heard his words with applause.
After the success of the historic Chandrayaan 3 mission, ISRO launched the Aditya L1 mission to study the Sun and is working on manned space under the Gaganyaan project. Exploration missions aimed at planets like Mars and Venus are also being prepared.