Isro to attempt fresh Moon landing soon: K Sivan

The Isro chief spoke about future projects and assured success in soft-landing on the Moon. He said a large number of advance satellite launches are planned in the coming months. 

"You all have heard about Chandrayaan-2 mission. On the technology part - yes, we could not achieve soft landing, but all the systems functioned until 300m from the Moon's surface. Very valuable data is available to set things right. Let me assure that Isro will pull all its experience, knowledge and technical prowess to set things right and demonstrate soft landing in near future," Dr Sivan said in his address at the golden jubilee convocation of IIT Delhi.

"Chandrayaan-2 is not the end of story. Our plans on Aditya L1 solar mission, human spaceflight programme are on track. A large number of advance satellite launches are planned in the coming months. SSLV will make its maiden flight sometimes in December or January. Testing of 200 ton semi-cryo engine is expected to begin shortly. Work is on to provide NAVIC signals on mobile phones, which will open the path to develop large number of applications for societal needs," he added.

Asserting that IITs are the "holy grail" of technical education in India, Dr Sivan said when he graduated from IIT Bombay more than three decades ago, the job scenario was not as vibrant as today.

"Area of specialisation limited the career options. Today, the options are many. There is an added volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity about the global economy. However, you all are much smarter and aware about these scenarios than the older generations," he said.

The Isro chief advised the students to chose the career options wisely.

"Keep in mind that, there is only one life and there are many career options. You all need to identify your passion and natural talent and align your career. Choose an industry that reflects your passion and interests. Rather than choosing a job for money, choose it for your happiness," he said.

"Be good at what you do. Remember, passion is not the only ingredient needed for success. You also need skills and strengths. You might be passionate about music or cricket. But, do you have the talent and skill set to become successful in extremely competitive fields like music or sports?," he added.

One does not need to be a topper, a super genius or have excellent grades to achieve a successful career, Dr Sivan said. "To be successful in your career, academics or business, you need not be super intelligent or a genius. You need not be the topper, you need not have excellent grades. All you need is focus by eliminating distractions and time-wasting activities," he said.

"And for god's sake, don't be a copycat. Just because, it is fashionable to be a stand-up comedian, can you be a comedian? The trick is to strive the right balance between what you love and what you are good at. You can always be passionate about music and be a competent engineer, together," he added.

Before the convocation address, the Isro chief signed an agreement or MoU with IIT Delhi for setting up a Space Technology Cell (STC) at the institute.

With this, IIT Delhi will join the league of other premiere institutions like IISc Bangalore, IIT Bombay, etc where the STCs have been set up to play a major role in taking up the space technology research and applications to the newer heights.

A total of 1,217 postgraduate and 825 undergraduate students were awarded degrees at the convocation besides the distinguished alumni awards.

Meanwhile, Chandrayan-2 orbiter has detected the presence of Argon-40 in the lunar exosphere.

Argon-40 (40Ar), which is one of the isotopes of the noble gas Argon, is an important constituent of the lunar exosphere. It originates from the radioactive disintegration of Potassium-40 (40K), which has a half-life of ~1.2 X 109 years. The radioactive 40K nuclide, which is present deep below the lunar surface, disintegrates to 40Ar, which, in turn, diffuses through the intergranular space and makes way up to the lunar exosphere through seepages and faults.

Planetary scientists prefer to call the thin gaseous envelope around the Moon as the ‘Lunar exosphere’ since it is so tenuous that the gas atoms very rarely collide with each other. While the Earth’s atmosphere near the mean sea level contains ~1019 atoms in a cubic centimetre of volume, the lunar exosphere contains ~ 104 to 106atoms in a cubic centimetre.

The Chandra’s (Moon) Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2) payload aboard the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, is a neutral mass spectrometer-based payload which can detect constituents in the lunar neutral exosphere in the range of 1-300 amu (atomic mass unit). As part of its early operation, it has detected 40Ar in the lunar exosphere from an altitude of ~100 km, capturing the day-night variations of concentration. 40Ar being a condensable gas at the temperatures and pressures that prevail on the lunar surface, condenses during lunar night. After lunar dawn, the 40Ar starts getting released to the lunar exosphere.

Variation of Argon-40 observed during one orbit of Chandrayaan-2 during dayside and nightside of the Moon. The observed partial pressure has to be refined for the background and other effects to infer the density of lunar exospheric argon. The observations when Chandrayaan-2 was on the nightside is indicated by the black solid rectangle at the top of the panel and the two vertical dashed lines. Being in a polar orbit, Chandrayaan-2 enters the dayside of the Moon crossing the north pole, traverses through the dayside and enters the nightside after crossing the southpole.