Nearly 20 years ago, when plans for sending a mission to the Moon were in their early stages within the Indian scientific community, APJ Abdul Kalam stated that if the country was able to achieve it, it would be nothing short of electrification.
After learning that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is considering a Moon mission, Kalam had stated in 2003 that Chandrayaan’s investigation of the Moon “will electrify the entire country, particularly young scientists and children.” He asserted that India’s Moon mission is “just a start towards future planetary explorations” and expressed confidence in this assertion.
Dr. Kalam’s Suggestions of Chandrayaan-1
After viewing the last-minute preparations for PSLV-C5, which was getting ready to launch RESOURCESAT-1, India’s most sophisticated remote sensing satellite at the time, Kalam, the country’s president at the time, spoke to experts from ISRO. Call it coincidence or fate, but a year later, when an ISRO team member met with Kalam to brief him on their lunar mission, which sought to orbit the Moon from a distance of 100 kilometres, Kalam proposed why not land there! Chandrayaan-1, India’s first Moon mission, was the topic of this discussion.
“President Kalam asked us why not land on it [Moon] when your spacecraft is going that far all the way,” M Annadurai, the project director of Chandrayaan-1 and later ISRO’s satellite director, stated in 2015 during a conference held in Kalam’s memory. After visiting Kalam, Annadurai’s team went back to its base and came up with a way to implement his plan for a Moon impact probe (MIP). In his 2015 speech, Annadurai recalled that President Kalam was “delighted” to learn that Indian scientists would be landing an object on the Moon’s surface.
Successful Accomplishment of Chandrayaan-1
Later, when the MIP on Chandrayaan-1 landed on the Moon, instruments attached to it identified and confirmed the existence of water on the Moon’s surface. Nasa, which had also used Chandrayaan-1 to send an instrument to the Moon, confirmed the discovery. In August 2018, Nasa stated that the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument was “uniquely equipped to confirm the presence of solid ice on the Moon.”
Dr. Kalam’s Suggestion on Chandrayaan-2
After Chandrayaan-1, ISRO had its sights set on launching a second Moon mission. However, this time it would be more impressive, so the objective was to advance and soft land a rover on the moon-a feat only three countries have so far accomplished. The mission was authorised by the government on September 18, 2008, and was given the designation Chandrayaan-2. It seeked to continue the exploration of the Moon’s surface begun by Chandrayaan-1.
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In 2009, Kalam suggested that NASA and ISRO deploy a surface robotic penetrator in Chandrayaan-2 while speaking to a group of scientists at the California Institute of Technology in the US. This, according to Kalam, would aid in the investigation of whether there is water on the Moon.
During a meeting with students in Mumbai in 2009, Kalam said, “I suggested to both ISRO and NASA to work on future mission of Chandrayaan-2 using Moon surface robotic penetrator during my recent visit to California Institute of Technology in the US where Nasa scientists presented the findings of Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) to Indian scientists.”
Launch of Chandrayaan-2
Although Kalam wasn’t there to witness this grateful event on July 22 2019, ISRO launched Chandrayaan-2 which was perhaps its most sophisticated mission so far. Chandrayaan-2 was to make India the first country to soft land a rover on Moon’s south polar region, also known as the dark side but the mission failed when the organisation lost contact with the lander 400 metres before the landing. Even though as an official statement the mission was 98% successful.
Dr. Kalam’s Vision of Space Centre on Moon
Kalam always emphasised the importance of India’s Moon mission and suggested that Indian scientists investigate studying frozen helium (a superb source of renewable energy) on the Moon. He believed that the Moon could someday be envisioned as a hub for the space industry.
“The Moon is crucial because it could end up serving as a space station halfway between Earth and Mars. The Moon can be imagined as a space industrial centre, especially with all of its frozen helium,” Kalam remarked in a 2006 lecture titled “Vision for Space Application.”
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In the future, when the world turns to producing energy through fusion, Kalam stressed the importance of exploring the presence of helium on the moon as one of the most valuable resources. “This energy produced using helium in the Moon can also energise the vehicles for transporting materials from the Moon to man’s future habitats in Mars and to his natural abode, the Earth,” Kalam had stated.
“I envision a scene in the year 2021, when I will be 90 years old, visiting the Sriharikota spaceport to board the space plane so that I can reach another planet and safely return as one of the passengers,” he stated perhaps on a lighter but visionary note to close his address.
Upcoming Chandrayaan-3 Mission
If Kalam were still alive, he would have undoubtedly clenched his fist in the air in celebration on Friday July 14, 2023, when Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to be rocketed into orbit, just as he did in 2008 when India’s first Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, was launched successfully.
Is it possible to travel to another planet in space? This will take some time-possibly decades. But you have to dream before your dreams can come true, Kalam reminded students in India and overseas, with his trademark radiant smile and twinkle in his eyes. He would assert that one must constantly have dreams.
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