Chandrayaan-3 was a team effort, says Mission Director S. Mohana Kumar

ISRO Mission Director S. Mohana Kumar spoke at VIT on the need for a specialised engineering course to enable indigenous manufacturing of passenger aircraft. He highlighted the importance of team effort in Chandrayaan-3's success and answered student queries on the mission. He also discussed the challenge of automatic charging of batteries due to the moon's changing weather.

In order to better tap into the scientific potential of students and enable indigenous manufacturing of passenger aircraft, a separate course that includes various specialisation of engineering must be established, said S. Mohana Kumar, Mission Director of Chandrayaan-3, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), while speaking at a lecture organised at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) on Friday.

Delivering a lecture, which was organised as part of Amrit Vimarsh Vikasit Bharath 2047, he said the country was yet to explore local manufacturing of passenger aircraft, and such an effort would yield a cost-effective and safe mode of transportation for many. “Among the three major modes of transportation, passenger aircraft remain the safest,” he added.

Emphasising that Chandrayaan-3 was a team effort, Mr. Mohana Kumar said the key role played by equipment suppliers delivering the required consignment to the mission on time had helped achieve the milestone. “Be it the fabrication unit, chemicals section, propellants, and service providers, such as electronics, the commitment shown by them played a key role in the success of the mission,” he said. Following the lecture, Mr. Mohana Kumar answered the student’s queries.

He said the lander and rover were equipped with solar-powered batteries that can only hold a charge for 14 days. As the weather on the moon changes once every 14 days, automatic charging of the batteries remained a challenge. “Currently, the ‘man on moon’ mission is not on our schedule. However, we are working on test vehicle flights to the moon,” Mr. Mohana Kumar said.

G. Viswanathan, Founder-Chancellor, VIT, was present. Students, faculty members, and research scholars from the institute also attended the lecture.