India and its space achievers.
Srinivas Laxman
May 23 2013
Hi Folks!
I am back again, but this time it goes by the new name----India flies to the Red Planet. Earlier, it was called ``Beyond Moon and Mars.''
The inspiration for restarting the space blog came from none other than my very good friend and advisor, Syed Ahmed Maqbool, an extremely talented space scientist, who played a key role in the discovery of water on the moon on November 14,2008. He was a key figure behind the ChaCe payload of Chandrayaan-1's the Moon Impact Probe.
Unfortunately, Syed's super achievement never hit the headlines---something of course which is typically Indian. If he had attained a similar breakthrough in the US, be sure he would have become a space hero and been rewarded in a big way. He was at one time with Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Let me clarify, that I am neither pro-US nor anti-Indian. I am just stating the facts. The truth is that in India today, it is proving to be quite a challenge for a super performer to be recognised and rewarded. It is therefore not surprising that many Indian origin scientists who were part of Nasa's Curiosity mission have made it to the top. In contrast, in the Chandrayaan mission--India's first mission to the moon-- there are a number of unsung heroes! Why not recognise them?
Now about the name of the blog---``India Flies To the Red Planet.'' It is pretty appropriate because hopefully in October-November 2013 Isro will be launching its maiden mission to Mars with five payloads and I am passionate about this mission and I want to be part of it.
Although I am not a space scientist, I still have played a small role in this mission. And how? In December 2012 my book: ``Mars Beckons India: The Story of India's Mission To Mars,'' was published by Vigyan Prasar, an affiliate of the government of India's department of science and technology. It was great working with Vigyan Prasar and Isro, particularly my good friend, D.P.Karnik, who provided all the help. Thank you both of you.
The book was launched by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, at the 100th anniv of the Indian Science Congress in Kolkata. Yes, a great thing, but the launch event was a total fiasco! Since, then the book has not received much publicity and what is worse booksellers in Mumbai are not aware of its existance. In my next blog I plan to give some details about this book.Its Hindi edition was released recently.
With five to six months left for the much-awaited lift off for the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission, the media will be full of stories and features relating to this flight. Keeping this in view I have suggested to Vigyan Prasar that it should consider having an informal publicity campaign about this book.
Let us see what happens.
And Syed thanks once again. I will call you Mac from today!!!!!
Srinivas Laxman
May 23 2013
Hi Folks!
I am back again, but this time it goes by the new name----India flies to the Red Planet. Earlier, it was called ``Beyond Moon and Mars.''
The inspiration for restarting the space blog came from none other than my very good friend and advisor, Syed Ahmed Maqbool, an extremely talented space scientist, who played a key role in the discovery of water on the moon on November 14,2008. He was a key figure behind the ChaCe payload of Chandrayaan-1's the Moon Impact Probe.
Unfortunately, Syed's super achievement never hit the headlines---something of course which is typically Indian. If he had attained a similar breakthrough in the US, be sure he would have become a space hero and been rewarded in a big way. He was at one time with Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Let me clarify, that I am neither pro-US nor anti-Indian. I am just stating the facts. The truth is that in India today, it is proving to be quite a challenge for a super performer to be recognised and rewarded. It is therefore not surprising that many Indian origin scientists who were part of Nasa's Curiosity mission have made it to the top. In contrast, in the Chandrayaan mission--India's first mission to the moon-- there are a number of unsung heroes! Why not recognise them?
Now about the name of the blog---``India Flies To the Red Planet.'' It is pretty appropriate because hopefully in October-November 2013 Isro will be launching its maiden mission to Mars with five payloads and I am passionate about this mission and I want to be part of it.
Although I am not a space scientist, I still have played a small role in this mission. And how? In December 2012 my book: ``Mars Beckons India: The Story of India's Mission To Mars,'' was published by Vigyan Prasar, an affiliate of the government of India's department of science and technology. It was great working with Vigyan Prasar and Isro, particularly my good friend, D.P.Karnik, who provided all the help. Thank you both of you.
The book was launched by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, at the 100th anniv of the Indian Science Congress in Kolkata. Yes, a great thing, but the launch event was a total fiasco! Since, then the book has not received much publicity and what is worse booksellers in Mumbai are not aware of its existance. In my next blog I plan to give some details about this book.Its Hindi edition was released recently.
With five to six months left for the much-awaited lift off for the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission, the media will be full of stories and features relating to this flight. Keeping this in view I have suggested to Vigyan Prasar that it should consider having an informal publicity campaign about this book.
Let us see what happens.
And Syed thanks once again. I will call you Mac from today!!!!!
You made me hero, Srinivasan-ji; Thanks. I only did my part of the responsibility; every thing fell in place. While reaching the moon itself was an immense pleasure to each every Indian space enthusiast; the credit of discovery of water on the moon going to an indigenous payload (CHACE) would have been the pinnacle point of Chandrayaan-I success.
ReplyDeleteWhen the pages of history books were turned; the humankind certainly will learn that it was on 14th Nov., 2008; the CHACE payload beamed wealth of treasure before its suicidal mission (as planned). As a mother, I lost my (child) CHACE, but it made all of us proud.
-S.M. Ahmed, Team leader, CHACE payload, Moon Impact Probe