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‘Chandrayaan 3 Landing Will Be Postponed To August 27, If Factors Unfavourable’, Says ISRO Scientist

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Ahmedabad, August 21: If any factor regarding the lander module appears unfavourable, then the landing will be shifted to August 27, said the Space Applications Centre-ISRO about Chandrayaan-3 on Monday. Nilesh M Desai, director of Space Applications Centre-ISRO, Ahmedabad said that the decision regarding the landing will be taken based on the health of the lander module and the conditions on the Moon.

Decision will be taken hours before landing on August 23

“On August 23, two hours before Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon, we will decide on whether or not it will be appropriate to land it at that time based on the health of the lander module and the conditions on the Moon. In case, if any factor appears to be not favourable, then we will land the module on the Moon on August 27. No problem should occur and we will be able to land the module on August 23,” Director Desai said.

ISRO Chairman and Secretary Department of Space S Somanath called on the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology, Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh in New Delhi today and apprised him of the status and readiness of ‘Chandrayaan-3’ for the moon landing scheduled on August 23, 2023.

ISRO Chairman briefs Minister Jitendra Singh

Chairman ISRO briefed the minister on the health status of Chandrayaan-3 and said that all systems are working perfectly and no contingencies are anticipated on Wednesday. In the next two days, the health of Chandrayaan-3 will be continuously monitored. The final sequence of landing will be loaded two days ahead and tested out, he said.

Jitendra Singh expressed his confidence in ‘Chandrayaan-3’

During the meeting, Minister Jitendra Singh expressed his confidence in ‘Chandrayaan-3’ making a soft landing this time and hoped that it will script a new history of planetary exploration under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. ISRO said the Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 hours IST. Live actions will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 17:27 IST on Aug 23, 2023.

While the Chandrayaan-2 mission was only “partially successful” since the lander lost contact after a hard landing, the ISRO successfully established two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-3 lander module and the still-orbiting Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. In a significant development, the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter which was already fixed around the moon established a two-way connection with the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 on Monday.

ISRO shared images of far side of the moon

Earlier today, the ISRO shared new images of the lunar far side area captured by the Chandrayaan-3. India will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the United States, Russia, and China, but India will be the only country in the world to land on the lunar south pole.

The primary objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold — to demonstrate safe and soft landing on lunar surface; to demonstrate rover roving on the moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission’s progress.

Jitendra Singh recalled that the first in the series of Chandrayaan — namely Chandrayaan-1, is credited for having discovered the presence of water on the surface of the Moon, which was a new revelation for the world and even the premier Space agencies like the USA’s NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) were fascinated by this discovery and used the inputs for their further experiments.

Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14, 2023, via the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota at 2:35 PM.

Ahead of the much-awaited soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the south pole of the Moon, former director of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and in-charge of the previous lunar mission ‘Chandrayaan-2’, K Sivan earlier today said that the mission will be a “grand success”. “It’s a very anxious moment…I’m sure that this time it will be a grand success,” Sivan said while speaking to news agency.

“We have our own system and we will be establishing a soft landing without any problem. But it is a complex process,” he said while responding to a question asked whether there would be any impact after the failure of Russia’s Luna-25 mission. Russia’s moon mission failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and smashed into the moon on Sunday.

He said that corrective measures have been taken after going through data generated by the Chandrayaan-2 mission. When asked if those additional systems too were indigenous, Sivan said, “Everything is indigenous.”

Earlier today, ISRO released images of the lunar far side area captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC). This camera assists in locating a safe landing area — without boulders or deep trenches — during the descent.

Notably, the ‘Vikram’ lander module of the spacecraft successfully separated from the propulsion module recently, and subsequently underwent crucial deboosting manoeuvres and descended to a slightly lower orbit. The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space program.

A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5 and since then it has been through a series of orbital manoeuvres been lowered closer to the moon’s surface.

It has been a month and seven days since the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14. The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.

The stated objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, are safe and soft landing, rover roving on the moon’s surface, and in-situ scientific experiments. The approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 is Rs 250 crores (excluding launch vehicle cost).

Chandrayaan 3 development phase commenced in January 2020

Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission’s progress.

The key scientific outcomes from Chandrayaan-2 include the first-ever global map for lunar sodium, enhancing knowledge on crater size distribution, unambiguous detection of lunar surface water ice with IIRS instrument, and more.

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Mumbai Metro 2A & 7 Connecting Andheri To Dahisar Records Highest 2,87,073 Daily Ridership

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Mumbai: Amid heavy rainfall, the Mumbai Metro had an significant achievement. The Metro 2A and 7 Lines connecting Andheri to Dahisar surpassed highest daily ridership, reaching to 2,87,073 number of passengers the Maha Mumbai Metro Operations Corporation Limited (MMOCL) informed on Thursday.

“We are thrilled to share that Maha Mumbai Metro has proudly surpassed highest daily ridership, reaching an incredible 2,87,073 passengers on Mumbai Metro Line 2A & 7! Even amidst heavy rain, Maha Mumbai Metro remained your steadfast companion, ensuring seamless journeys for all.” the MMOCL posted on its official X handle.

MMOCL also said that it operated two extra services one each from Gundavali & Andheri West, whereas, Monorail operated six services to accommodate and effectively manage the surge in ridership.

However, the activist continue to highlight that the ridership of Mumbai Metro is at least 50 per cent less than planned and expected by the authorities.

In August this year, Mumbai’s first Metro line- the Ghatkopar-Andheri-Versova route achieved a record of carrying more thann 500,000 commuters in a single day. On August 13, 2024, Mumbai Metro One carried 500,385 commuters, surpassing the pre-covid ridership, the authorities informed.

“This is the first time ridership of Mumbai Metro One has crossed milestone figure of 500,000 without impact of external factors. There is only one occasion when ridership of Mumbai Metro One had crossed 5 lakh when BEST buses went on strike for 9 days (8 January to 16 January 2019)”, the Metro One had said in its press statement.

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‘Spider-Man’ Spotted Begging At Kalyan Railway Station

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An influencer posed as a man begging in a Spiderman costume at Kalyan Junction. The incident was staged for a reel, which the influencer posted on Instagram sooner. It showed ‘Spiderman From Mumbai’ sitting outside the railway station and seeking money from passersby. The caption of the reel, read in a beggar tone’s, “Spider-Man ko dedo bhai koi.”

The video opened showing the man sitting below the stairs of the railway station. He was seen wearing a Spider-Man costume to capture the attention of train passengers towards him. he repeatedly extended his hand forward begging for some money while being seated at the railway premises.

It wasn’t a real case of someone begging by wearing the superhero costume, but an act performed by the Instagram-based content creator for the craze of reels. As he performed as a beggar there, many people looked at him and one of them also approached him with some money. The reel recorded people at the railway station witnessing the reel act. One of the persons there stepped into the video to offer a coin to the ‘Spider-Man’ beggar.

This video is now going viral on Instagram. It was uploaded on the online platform in August, however, it has reached netizens and caught their attention in the recent days. So far, the reel, which shows the influencer posing as a beggar dressed up in a superhero costume, has attracted 2.8 million views and more than one lakh likes. People reacted to the video and hilariously wrote, “Spider man no money at home.” “We got Spider-Man in kalyan before GTA,” they added.

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Pongal 2024: Mumbai Celebrates Harvest Festival Reflecting Rich Tamil Culture

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Nearly 2000 people participated in Pongal festivities in and around Antop Hill on Monday. Mass Pongal celebration was carried out across various locations of the Sion Koliwada constituency and was facilitated by MLA Captain R Tamil Selvan who continues to organise these events embracing the harvest season and Tamil culture for more than a decade now.

In a beautiful display of cultural richness, locals dressed in traditional attires prepared Pongal reciting folk songs, raising the festival mood. The event saw them setting up their Pongal pots in the midst of sugarcane, flowers, and rangolis. The celebration was notably marked at the Antop Hill Cement Ground with about a thousand people lifting the festival spirit on the auspicious day. Other areas that observed Pongal on a grand scale included New 90 Feet Road, Kamaraj Nagar, Vijay Nagar, and the Malai Mariamman temple in Naik Nagar among a few others.

Captain Selvan was seen visiting the spots and joining the public in the celebration. “Pongal is associated with agriculture. Tamilians of various religious beliefs celebrate this festival together without any discrimination. This is the significance of Pongal,” he said while extending Pongal greetings.

The event was not confined to only the Tamil-speaking people celebrating the occasion as it saw women from diverse cultural backgrounds mark the festival. While Tamilians gathered there to celebrate Pongal, others enjoyed the Makar Sankranti festivities in the region with similar rituals involving boiling water and preparing food in their pots.

Pongalo Pongal” chants were heard during the celebration as women prayed to seek prosperity for their families while boiling and expecting their pots to overflow with the Pongal preparation.

Throwing more light on the harvest festival, the MLA acknowledged that the first dam built in the world was built by Karikala, a Tamilian. “Tamilians introduced the concept of building dams to stop running (river) water and distribute it for agricultural usage. Karikala from the Chola Dynasty constructed the Kallanai Dam over the Kaveri River running in Trichy.”

Several people admire the Tamil language and its treasurable culture, including PM Narendra Modi who recently inaugurated the Kashi Tamil Sangamam at Namo Ghat in Varanasi and mentioned about Pongal and remembered prominent Tamil personalities like Subramania Bharathiyar, Bharathidasan, and Thiruvalluvar.

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