September 21, 2023
Saugata Roy’s speech during the discussion on “India’s glorious space journey marked by successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3″ in the Lok Sabha
Sir, I rise to speak on the success of Chandrayaan. I congratulate Shri S. Somanath and all the scientists of ISRO. Sir, I congratulate Shri S. Somanath and all the scientists of ISRO. I want to mention that there are many scientists from Bengal in the Chandrayaan Project. HON. CHAIRPERSON: There are scientists from Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and other States but they are all Indian scientists. Dada, you know the delicacies of things. When we were watching Chandrayaan’s soft landing on the moon on TV, we saw the Chandrayaan and then suddenly the Prime Minister’s photograph came. The whole country wanted to see the soft landing of Chandrayaan and they saw the Prime Minister’s photograph. Why should this happen? The Mission Chandrayaan is not the result of one particular individual’ effort, it is the result of 50 years of scientific work done by hundreds of scientists throughout the country. Sir, I was very pleased to hear Rajnath Singh ji who spoke on scientific temperament. The man who spoke of scientific temperament in this country was Jawaharlal Nehru. Scientific temperament means, you do not accept anything without experiment and logic. Science is knowledge which is certain and systematic. I am, like Rajnath Singh ji, a former professor of physics. But in my physics, while speaking on Chandrayaan, I do not bring Ram Mandir like Rajnath Singh ji did. There is no connection between the two. Sir, I am not yielding. Sir, I want to say that when somebody in top position says that Ganesha had plastic surgery in the ancient days, I do not accept this. … (Interruptions) When somebody says that Kauravas were born through In Vitro Fertilisation, I do not accept this. When somebody says that in Ramayana, the Pushpak Rath was a discovery by the ancient Indians, I do not accept this. I only accept that which is proved by science. Let me make it very clear. Sir, let me give the background. In 1957, the Soviets sent the Sputnik to the space. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to go to space. In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go to space. It was at that time that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru felt that we must work in the field of space science. In 1962, he set up the INCOSPAR (the Indian National Committee for Space Research) headed by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, a Cosmic Ray Physicist. Nehru ji died in 1964. In 1969, when Indira Gandhi ji was the Prime Minister, the ISRO was set up. In 1972, when Indira Gandhi ji was still the Prime Minister, the Department of Space was set up. So, whatever is happening today is in continuation to what Dr. Vikram Sarabhai started in 1962. It is his legacy. He unfortunately died in 1971 in Thumba, the place which he liked so much. India got the first success during the launch of Aryabhata which was completely designed and fabricated in India, and launched by a Soviet Kosmos3M rocket from Kapustin Yar on 19th April, 1975. ISRO has successfully launched almost 150 satellites since 1975. ISRO has established major Space systems for communication, television broadcasting, meteorological services, resources monitoring and management, and space-based navigation services. ISRO has its headquarters in Bengaluru. Its activities are spread across various centres. Launch vehicles are built at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. Satellites are designed and developed at U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru. Integration and launching of satellites and launch vehicles are carried out from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Development of liquid stages including cryogenic stage, a very cold stage, is done at Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Bengaluru. ISRO has carried out 125 spacecraft missions and planned several missions including Gaganyaan and interplanetary missions such as Chandrayaan (LUPEX), Shukrayaan, and Mangalyaan (MOM 2). ISRO, our own organisation, has surpassed NASA in efficiency, resourcefulness, and cost-effectiveness. In 2005, NASA lost the solar mission that cost 550 billion dollars. Now, ISRO has launched a similar solar mission, Aditya L1, at a cost of 55 million dollars only. That is one-tenth of the cost of NASA’s mission. There are four types of satellites sent by ISRO. One is the communications satellite which helps our communications; the second is the observation satellite which takes pictures of the earth; the third is the navigational satellite; and the fourth is the astronomical satellite. These works are going on. What is great about Chandrayaan is that so far, we are using rockets to send satellites around the earth. They are called geo-synchronised satellites, which means they are moving at the same speed as the earth, or the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles which are placed in space. Now, for the first time, we have gone ahead from a satellite. Our rocket has taken a lander and a rover onto the surface of the moon. We failed in Chandrayaan 2. Our lander had crashlanded. This time there was no crash; the lander landed very softly. For one day, it sent messages from the moon, but they have to be jettisoned. We are all very happy that India has achieved this, but we must have things in perspective. We are talking of a moon, not a moon-landing,but sending a lander onto the moon. There is a propulsion module, and there is a landing module. The propulsion module takes it from the earth’s orbit to the moon’s orbit. Then, the landing module goes to the moon surface. आपको याद डदलाना चाहता ह ं डक सोडवयत नेवषड1957 मेंस्पतुडनक भेजा। हमनेमून में अभी एक साफ्ट लैंडर भेजा। वषड1969 मेंआज से54 साल पहलेNeil Armstrong stepped on the moon as a man. He said, small step for me but a giant leap for the mankind. हम लोग 54 साल पीछेहैं। अभी तक हम मून मेंकोई इंसान को लैंड करा सकें, ऐसी टेक्नोलॉजी नहींबनापाये। इसमेंअच्छा काम कर रहेहैं। यह भी सही हैडक स्पेस प्रोग्राम मेंजोपैसा लगताहै, यह िचडकरना मडुश्कल है। डजतेन्द्र डसंह जी काबजट कटताहै, उनका उतनावेट भी नहीं है, बजट मेन्टेन नहीं कर पातेहैं। गरीब देश में, डेवलडपंग देश मेंस्पेस प्रोग्राम रिना मडुश्कल है। यह आसान बात नहीं है। हमेंबैलेंस करके चलना चाडहए। हमारा जो सैटेलाइट डसस्टम है, इसनेबहुत सडवडस दी है। They predict weather; कब तूफान आ रहा है। They predict crop development. GPS in cars also based on satellite tracking. I want to say that Chandrayaan 3 has demonstrated safe and soft landing on the lunar surface. It has demonstrated rover roving on the moon and conducting in situ scientific experiments. What are the technologies present there? The technologies are laserbased altimeters, velocimeters, inertial measurement to measure gyro-based surface, propulsion system, navigational guidance and control, hazard detection and avoidance, and landing leg mechanism. यह सबइंडडया मेंडेवलपडकयागयाहै। यही हमारेडलए गवडकी बात है। गवडसेबोलो, लैंडर पेलोड है, इसमेंचन्द्रा, चन्द्रशेिर के नाम पर चन्द्रा सरफेस थमोडफडजकल एक्सपेररमेंट है। It is to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature. It contained instruments for lunar seismic activity. Then there is Langmuir Probe to estimate the plasma density and its variations. I am concluding. I am not discussing anything controversial. मझुेबोलनेडदया जाए। मझुे यही कहना हैडक हम आगेबढ़ेहैं, लेडकन बहुत दूर जाना पड़ेगा।. You see, nobody has mentioned Kalpana Chawla. She went by the Columbia Space Shuttle. Her craft exploded in 2003, and she along with seven others died. Today, I pay respect to Kalpana Chawla who was an Indian born astronaut. आज क्याहै, एक साल डकसका पूरा हुआ? फ्रैंक रूडबयो नासा केएक एस्रोनॉट हैं, वह एक साल सेस्पेस मेंहैं। एक साल सेइंसान स्पेस मेंहै। He is set to return to earth this fall after setting the record for the longest single spaceflight by an astronaut. He arrived at the International Space Station on 21st September, 2022 and will return home after 371 days in space. Rubio and his fellow crew members conducted dozens of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations. वर्ष1958 मेंनासा का सेट अप हुआ। उस समय सोववयत यूवनयन आगेथा, उसनेपहले स्पूतवनक भेजा।पहले‘Man in Space’ भेजा। लाइका मर गया, लेवकन वेलनटीना टेरश्ेकोवापहुुंच गया। आप लक्ष्य वसनेमा ऋवतक रोशन का देखेंहोंगे, लाइफ मेंएक लक्ष्य होना चावहए। लक्ष्य यहीहै वक हम देश को आगेबढ़ाएगुं े। देश मेंइन लोगों केबीच जो कुसुंस्कारहै, इसेदूर करगेंे। देश को ववज्ञान और टेक्नोलॉजी मेंआगेलेकर जाएगुं ेतभीहमारा काम पूराहोगा। अभी भीइुंटरनेशनल स्पेस स्टेशन घूम रहा है। एस्रोनॉट उधर ही रहता ह, ै घर जैसा ह, ैएस्रोनॉट उधर ही खाता है। फ्रैंक रूवबयो ने ऐसा वकया है। अभी चीन नेएक इुंटरनेशनल स्पेस स्टेशन बना वदया। Americans have gone. Chinese have gone. So, the Chinese are also in the Space Station now. बहुत सारा काम करनाहै। इुंटरनेशनल स्पेस स्टेशन है, उसमेंनासा, रूस, जापान, यूरोप, कनाडा शावमल है। महोदय, हमको यही कहना हैवक हमारा स्पेस मेंरकैं अभी छठा है। हम वकसकेपीछेह, ैंनासा, रूस, जापान, यूरोप, कनाडा और चीन। चीन बहुत आगेबढ़ गयाहै। इस चचाष मेंमैंजवाहर लाल नेहरू को प्रणाम करता ह ुं, इुंवदरा गाुंधी को प्रणाम करता ह ुं, इन्होंनेस्पेस प्रोग्राम को आगेबढ़ाया। मैंडॉ. साराभाई को प्रणाम करता ह ुं। मैंसतीश धवन और यू.आर. राव को भी प्रणाम करता ह ुं वक इन सब लोगों नेवमलकर स्पेस प्रोग्राम आगेबढ़ाया। इसमेंबीजेपी का कोई कुं रीब्यूशन नहींहै, साइुंवटस्ट्स का कुं रीब्यूशन हैऔर इसी लक्ष्य की ओर आगेबढ़ेंगे। धन्यवाद।
