Women power in ISRO

It is women power to the fore in India’s prestigious Chandrayaan-2 mission. For the first time in an ISRO mission, the Project Director and the Mission Director will be women. While Vanitha M. will be the Project Director for the orbiter, the lander and the rover, Ritu Karidhal will be the Mission Director in charge of the GSLV-Mk III launch vehicle. Several women engineers of ISRO, including Ritu Karidhal, had played important roles in ISRO sending a spacecraft to Mars in November 2013. About 30 per cent of ISRO’s employees are women.

Abdul Kalam’s suggestion

It was A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s suggestion, when he was the President, that Chandrayaan-1 orbiter carry a Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as well with India’s tricolour painted on it. Kalam, a reputed launch vehicle and missile technologist, was the Project Director for ISRO’s SLV-3 missions in 1979-80. Taking a cue from the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the lander and the rover of Chandrayaan-2 will carry India’s insignia. The lander will have India’s national flag painted on it, and the rover will have the Ashok Chakra imprinted on three wheels on one side and ISRO’s logo on three wheels on the other side.

Rs.1,000 crore mission

The cost of the entire Chandrayaan-2 mission is about Rs.1,000 crore. This includes Rs.603 crore for building the composite module, which includes the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, the lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan, and the money to be paid to foreign agencies for the tracking support they provide. The cost of building the GSLV-Mk III is Rs.375 crore. 

 

Space station, astronauts and Gaganyaan

According to ISRO Chairman K. Sivan, India will have a space station in orbit by 2030. The nitty-gritty of the space station will be worked out after India sends three astronauts, including a woman, in a crew capsule into a low-earth orbit in 2022 during its Gaganyaan mission. Sivan told a press conference in New Delhi on June 13, 2019, “We want to have a separate space station. We will launch a small module for microgravity experiments. That is our ambition.” The space station, weighing 20 tonnes, will be positioned at an altitude of 400 km above the earth. A few astronauts can stay there for 15 to 20 days. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, said the Gaganyaan project to send Indian astronauts into space in 2022 was on track to be accomplished by India’s 75th Independence anniversary. The cost approved by the Union Cabinet, just before the Model Code of Conduct kicked in for the April-May 2019 Lok Sabha election, was Rs.10,000 crore, Jitendra Singh said.