New Delhi: India is set to become the first country in the world when the lander and rover of the Chandrayaan 3 mission will “wake up” after a two-week “sleep” due to the moon's sunset. The sun is expected to rise in the early hours of September 22, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
“Tomorrow, when the nation rejoices over the passage of the Women’s Protection Act, we hope to be the first country in the world to land the Chandrayaan-3 mission at the lunar south pole (which happened last month) (due to the moon’s two-week sunset). “After a 14-day sleep, we resumed navigation activities of the lander Vikram and the probe Pragyan.” Singh said while replying to a debate on the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission in Lok Sabha.
In a response that lasted over an hour, the minister referred to a famous photo of scientists carrying rocket parts while replying to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's comments earlier in the day that the BJP was giving the impression that all scientific achievements occurred only after 2014. “That miracle happened before 2014. “Unlike the Nehruvian era when resources were scarce, we are now technologically advanced,” he said.
Replying to another remark by Tharoor that unlike the Congress, women do not require reservation in scientific fields, Singh said that ISRO has more women scientists than before and even the Aditya L-1 mission is headed by a woman scientist. He also countered another observation by Tharoor that the budget of the space ministry is minimal. “From 2014 to present, the budget of the Department of Science, Technology and Space has increased by 142 per cent,” Singh said.
The minister also highlighted how “the NDA government has brought the space program and rocket launch activities out of the veil of secrecy” at a time when thousands of people watched the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission live in Sriharikota on August 23. Until 2020, many people did not know where ISRO is, but now everyone knows where ISRO is thanks to the government raising awareness by opening up such activities for people,” said Singh.
He also highlighted the opening of the space sector for public-private partnerships and the multifold increase in startups and unicorns in the sector. Singh pointed out how scientists visit Tirupati before every satellite is launched. Referring to Defense Minister Rajnath Singh's earlier statement that scientific thinking is also reflected in the Bible, the minister said it shows that science and spirituality coexist.
The minister claimed that due to “flaws in planning” television came to India only in the 1970s, 15 years after it arrived in the country. Now, the government has made India a leader in quantum technology, Singh said. Later, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury countered Singh by highlighting how the vision of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru led to the emergence of institutions like ISRO and the Ministry of Atomic Energy, which later led to advancements in space research. .