New Delhi: K. Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was awarded on Thursday the Tamil Nadu government’s Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award.
According to The Hindu, Sivan could not be present at the state government’s Independence Day celebrations and is expected to collect the award from chief minister E. Palaniswamy at a later date. The award’s citation says that Sivan, a native of Kanyakumari district, is known popularly known as the ‘Rocket Man’.
Under his leadership, the space organisation has successfully launched the Chandrayaan 2 mission to land a rover on the unexplored lunar south pole. The mission, if successful, will make India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to pull off a soft landing on the moon.
Also Read: Chandrayaan-2 to Reach Moon’s Orbit on August 20: ISRO
In June, Sivan said that ISRO is planning to launch its own space station in the next decade, in an extension of the Gaganyaan mission. “We have to sustain the Gaganyaan programme after the launch of (the) human space mission. In this context, India is planning to have its own space station,” he said.
On Thursday, the Tamil Nadu government also handed over the Kalpana Chawla Award for Courage and Daring Enterprise to P. Ramyalakshmi. She is the assistant director of fisheries (marine) in Cuddalore, and she received the recognition because of her action against the usage of the destructive purse seine nets in the area, The Hindu reports. Purse seine fishing has been banned by Tamil Nadu because the practice has an adverse impact on marine life.
Chandrayaan 2 leaves Earth’s orbit
Three weeks after its launch, India’s Chandrayaan 2 left Earth’s orbit and started moving towards the moon after a crucial manoeuvre carried out by ISRO scientists in the dark hours of Wednesday.
The spacecraft, now on “Lunar Transfer Trajectory”, is expected to reach the moon’s orbit on August 20 with the soft landing of rover on the lunar surface planned on September 7.
The Bengaluru-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it carried out the Trans Lunar Insertion (TLI) manoeuvre at 02:21 am IST on Wednesday as planned, following which the Chandrayaan-2 has successfully entered the “Lunar Transfer Trajectory”.
#ISRO
Trans Lunar Insertion (TLI) maneuver was performed today (August 14, 2019) at 0221 hrs IST as planned.For details please see https://t.co/3TUN7onz6z
Here’s the view of Control Centre at ISTRAC, Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/dp5oNZiLoL
— ISRO (@isro) August 13, 2019
The health of the spacecraft is being “continuously monitored” from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISTRAC with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu, near Bengaluru, ISRO said, adding, “Since its launch on July 22 all systems onboard Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are performing normal.”
(With PTI inputs)