SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: Director of the National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Hyderabad, Dr Prakash Chauhan highlighted the critical milestones achieved, including the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008, which paved the way for in-depth scientific exploration of the Moon.
Dr Chauhan delivered the CSIR Foundation Day public lecture titled “Exploration of Moon: New Insights from Indian Lunar Exploration Missions,” which captivated the audience at the CSIR-NIO auditorium, Dona Paula.
Dr Chauhan said the mission carried 11 instruments to investigate mineral distribution, detect ice at polarregions, map elemental distribution, and characterise the Moon's radiation environment.
Chandrayaan-1 yielded groundbreaking discoveries, with the most notable being the revelation of an active hydrosphere in the polar regions of the Moon, reshaping our understanding of Earth's celestial neighbour. Building on this success, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) initiated the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which entered lunar orbit following its triumphant launch on July 22, 2019. Most recently, Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the Moon’s South Pole, with both the Vikram Lander and Pragyan rover conducting experiments to detect water and analyse various geophysical parameters, he said.
Dr Chauhan's lecture provided an in-depth exploration of the presence of hydration on the Moon and surface geology, unveiling a wealth of new information that will undoubtedly shape future lunar research endeavours.
Dr Chauhan, a distinguished scientist renowned for his contributions to Earth Observation applications, shared his extensive knowledge, emphasising his pioneering work in ocean color parameter retrieval, marine resource assessment, and climate response using space-borne observations. His remarkable achievements also extend to leading the use of hyper-spectral satellite data for Indian Planetary Missions such as Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-1, including his role as the Principal Investigator for the Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (IIRS) instrument on Chandrayaan-2.
The lecture shed light on India's ongoing Lunar Exploration Programme, a series of ambitious outer space missions executed by the ISRO. Director of NIO Prof Sunil Kumar Singh, welcomed and later CSIR-NIO chief scientist Dr Sanil Kumar proposed a vote of thanks.
