EXPLORATION OF THE SKY

From Sampath’s Desk:

 

EXPLORATION OF THE SKY

 

The sky, outer space, and celestial bodies and objects have always attracted and fascinated discerning minds. Simple sky-gazing is an exciting factor, kindling the intellectual curiosity in the on-looker to know about what are all seen up above the sky with the naked eyes or through telescopes. Sky-gazing is also a stress buster. For space scientists, there is a never-ending exciting quest and thirst to quench for outer space explorations. Of all those carried out so far, the ‘little step’ by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (sailing in 'Apollo 11') on the landscape of Moon on July 20, 1969, is acclaimed as the most amazing, astounding, and awe-inspiring achievement etched in golden letters of space exploration history. Yes, history was scripted. Neil Armstrong beamed and screamed, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." He then planted his left foot on the gray powdery surface, took a cautious step forward, and humanity had walked on the moon.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S., Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) of India, the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences of Russia, United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) of England, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), China National Space Administration (CNSA), National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) of France, and Israel Space Agency (ISA) are some of the major space research agencies across the world, among others.

These agencies have made tremendous progress and carried out stupendous space exploration tasks and missions to date. Launching of satellites helps in mind-defying speedy audio and visual communication over large geographical areas, weather forecasting, connection of remote areas, intelligence gathering, security communication through coding and de-coding, connectivity with ships and air-crafts, natural resources explorations, etc. Manned and unmanned space shuttles have also been making elaborate and extensive explorations to get at the composition and components of Earth’s surface and underground content for information in general and exploiting them for the benefit of the mankind in particular. While most people generally agree with the beneficial aspects of Earth and outer space explorations, some are skeptical about their usefulness, as, according to them, it is a waste of time, energy, and resources. However, space vehicles continue to be sent to explore planets of our solar system - Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, etc.

 

Astronomy is not anything new to India. It is an age-old subject for her. We have many historical shreds of evidence and clues pointing to the rich knowledge and keen interest in the celestial objects - visible and/or invisible to naked eyes - that India had shown even from times centuries ago. Aryabhata (476-550 CE), was one of the ancient popular astronomical experts of India of the old eons after whom some Indian rockets/space shuttles have been named. Others were -   Lagadha (Astronomer-cum-Astrologer - 1st BCE), Varahamihira (505-587 CE), Brahmagupta (Mathematician-cum-Astronomer (598-668 CE),  Bhaskara-I (Mathematician-cum-Astronomer - 600-680 CE), Bhaskara II (Bhaskaracharya 1114-1185 CE), Lalla (720-790 CE), Sripati (1019-1066 CE), Mahendra Suri (1340-1400 CE), Kelallur Nilakantha Somayaji (1444-1544 CE) and Achyutha Pisharodi (1550-1621 CE).

Right from the days of known history, calendars of India had predicted occurrences of solar and lunar eclipses with pristine and perfect precision. Recently, archaeologists have, by serendipity, stumbled upon a stone tablet inscription in Tamil Nadu dating back to the 14th century CE which makes mention of a total solar eclipse having taken place on a particular date indicated therein. According to it, the time of any eclipse is an auspicious one, and doing charity at that time earns ‘Punya’ for the donor/benefactor.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin of the erstwhile U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union) became the first man in human history to journey into outer space achieving a major milestone in space exploration in his Capsule Vostok-1 which completed one orbit of Earth on 12.4.1961. From then on, man started exploring almost everything in the sky and beyond, and the journey is still going great guns.

 

Indian origin American Kalpana Chawla (40) from Haryana went into outer space (as one of the seven crew members) as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator on the space shuttle Columbia that left the Earth on January 16, 2003. The crew performed 80 Earth Study and Space Science experiments for advanced technology development and astronaut health and safety. On February 1, 2003, on its return to the Earth, the space shuttle disintegrated killing all the crew members including Kalpana Chawla. Kalpana had to her credit a stay of 31 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in outer space. To quote Kalpana, “The journey matters as much as the goal.”

 

Another Indian-origin Sunita Williams (55) is an American astronaut. Her two spaceflights to the International Space Station combined lasted more than 321 days, ranking her second (after American astronaut Peggy Whitson) for most time spent in space by a woman. She has to her credit the most spacewalk time for a woman of 50 hours and 40 minutes. She was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15 in 2012. She served as a Flight Engineer on Expedition 32 and then Commander of Expedition 33. She was awarded the ‘Padma Bhushan’ by Government of India in 2008. She also has other achievements and awards to her credit.

 

Chandrayaan-I - a fully indigenously built space vehicle - the first Indian lunar probe was launched by the ISRO in October 2008 and it operated until August 2009. Making a perfect landing on the surface of the Moon, it was sending fantastic and wonderful photographs of the Moon’s landscape and reports on the exploration of its interiors - composition, content, and components. The finding of water signature in the Moon was a thrilling and exhilarating takeaway. The focus nowadays is to find whether metals/minerals are available in Moon and if so, whether they can be mined and made use of. One recent report suggests scope for possible availability of some metals/minerals including the rare Helium-3. Experiments are underway. It will take some time to take a call on the speculation.

 

India scripted history on 22.7.2019 when it successfully launched Chandrayaan-2, a ₹375 crore Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark-III (GSLV-Mk-III) weighing 3850 kg from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, 11 years after ISRO’s successful first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008 (orbital insertion was done on November 8, 2008) which had already made more than 3400 orbits around the Moon and was operational for 312 days till August 29, 2009. The chief objective was to map and study the variations in lunar surface and composition, including possible availability of water signature in the Moon. Earlier, ISRO had in touch with the Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' lander till it was 335 meters above the lunar surface and thereafter only, it got disconnected and became incommunicado. Thereupon, all efforts of soft-landing of Vikram on the lunar's South Pole were set at naught when the spacecraft was much closer than 2.1 KM to the Moon. The final 'slip between the cup and the lip' ended the ambitious mission abruptly.

 

In the early hours of 7.9.2019, ISRO’s plan to soft-land Vikram near the Moon’s south pole did not go as per script when the lander lost communication with ground stations during its final descent. The jubilation suddenly turned into despair early on that morning as the Chandrayaan-2 lander lost contact with Earth minutes before it was to land on the Moon. All was going on well for the Vikram lander, which was descending on to the lunar surface as planned. Scientists at ISRO were visibly excited and loudly cheering. They started clapping as Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander successfully aced various stages of its lunar descent. The stage was set and the big bang announcement - Chandrayaan-2 lands on the Moon! - was around the corner when suddenly the ISRO control room in Bengaluru went silent. After a lull came the unfortunate announcement "ISRO had lost touch with the Vikram lander."

 

Chandrayaan-3 will be India’s third lunar exploration mission, a repeat of Chandrayaan-2, but only with a Lander and Rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2. As of now, Chandrayaan-3 mission is scheduled to be launched by the ISRO, possibly over late 2021 or early 2022.

 

NASA and European Space Agency have been at the forefront in the exploration of our solar system. Pictures beamed and reports received on the exploration of ‘Saturn’ at NASA control room showed that the 'Ringed planet' has many sub-planets and the ring seen is actually made up of dust storms rolling around. It is also called 'Gas Giant'. From other planets also, we have useful information that may lead to some conclusive proof of the state of things obtaining in them. The main aim is to find out whether human-life is in existence or possible anywhere else other than our Mother Earth. The present exercise is to explore whether there is air/water in any planet/sub-planet conducive to and facilitating the evolution/presence of humans much less living organisms. 

 

Some belittle, denigrate and decry the space explorations as wasteful. But the beneficial effects of space-research missions can’t be altogether ruled out. A person sowing a seed for a mango tree may not perhaps be able to reap instant benefit, say like its fruit, even during the whole of his lifetime. But still, posterity may benefit later. With perfect spadework already carried out and many more explorations to follow, we may perhaps end up tumbling upon pleasant surprises and greener pastures in due course. 

 

Perhaps, the lead time is longer before actual benefits could start flowing. Who knows - if at all it came to that - there would be inter-planet space thoroughfares, space traffic signals, traffic jam/snarls, outer-space fuel filling stations, and most strikingly, trips to other planets on a holiday and even inter-planet movement of people! There would be space shuttle races as well in the future, striking a purple patch! These are now mere exciting, mind-blowing, and jaw-dropping dreams. Aren't they? Only the future will tell whether or not they become a reality at one time or another?

On 14.7.2023, India  launched CHANDRAYAAN-3 successfully on its  Lunar Mission, and it is on its journey to the Moon, meeting all the parameters of its different phases of operation and activity in its travel so far en route. The Lander and Rover are expected to land near the South Pole region of the Moon on 24.8.2023.

 

R.SAMPATH