Time For ISRO To Do More Planet Exploration: Leading Scientist Jayant Murthy

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently launched its third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3 on July 14 (Friday) from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The rocket aims to soft-land on the moon's surface and this is the second attempt after the Chandrayaan-2's failure in 2019.

To better understand the challenges for Chandrayaan-3, OneIndia's Amrita Das spoke to Senior Professor (Retd) from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Jayant Murthy.

'Time for ISRO to do more planet exploration'

Scientist Murthy thinks that ISRO needs to do more planet exploration. Because as a scientific community, they do not focus on planetary exploration much which includes the moon. They mostly focus on the universe like gravitational work.

'Focus this time is more on Orbiter and Lander of Chandrayaan-3'

The senior professor said that ISRO has been focusing more on the lander and rover of Chandrayaan-3 this time. Chandrayaan-2 had the orbiter, which is doing a lot of science, so they don't have to reproduce the orbiter to take pictures. They're also focusing on Mission 2's orbiter as a backup for communications, and the instruments are not that much different from its predecessor.

'Chandrayaan-3 will decide India's space future and objectives'

To this, the scientist said that the space program is very important because it keeps science and technology at the heart of a successful nation. He also added that India spends 0.7 per cent of its GDP on basic science including Chandrayaan. Whereas China is spending 2.5 per cent, and they're set to launch Chang'e 6 soon. China has also been receiving positive results from its rover that's already on the moon. He also qualified this with an important message that the space race must be a healthy competition.

'We need to spend much more money on research, not less'

Jayant Murthy also believes India needs to spend more money on research, not less. India needs a road map for its space. According to him, India is spending 0.7 per cent of GDP only. If you compare it with trillion dollars of money other countries are spending, then it's nothing. So, we need to look for more missions, not only the lunar ones. India also needs to work on artificial intelligence to broaden the space programme. And this is where ISRO can play an important role in galvanising enthusiasm.

'Experiments to study moon quake, a compositional study of moon rocks'

He also said that the space agency is set to look at the moon quakes, which is fascinating work. Because for a long time, people thought that the moon had no moonquakes. But now we know otherwise.

In conclusion, Prof. Murthy said that the spectacle of a rocket launch is always exciting, but it also has more difficulty than anyone can ever imagine. So be hopeful to see a positive result this time around.