IIT Madras honours 12 of its alumni who were part of the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission
IIT Madras honoured twelve of its alumni in the Indian Space Research Organisation who played a pivotal role in the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) honoured twelve of its alumni in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) who played a pivotal role in the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission.
According to a press release by IIT Madras, the top scientists and engineers from ISRO also interacted with students from the institute and various government schools and city colleges during an event titled ‘Over the Moon with Team Chandrayaan-3’ held in the campus.
Those honoured during the occasion include Dr S Unnikrishnan Nair who completed his PhD from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras, in 2011 and is the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO, and Dr P Veeramuthuvel, Project Director, Chandrayaan-3, ISRO, who completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2016.
S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, is currently pursuing a PhD from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras.
“I stayed in this campus for hardly one semester but that one semester made a lot of changes in me. My guru for PhD, Prof P Chandramouli is now heading the Department...We feel proud that we belong to this institute and that we could do something that is because of the energy and enthusiasm that we got by being part of the great institution," said Dr S Unnikrishnan Nair, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO, recalling his days as a PhD Student at IIT Madras, informed IIT Madras.
“It is by virtue of excellent teamwork and sheer perseverance that we have achieved this safe and soft landing technology on the lunar surface. It is not only an achievement for the scientific community but it has become the country’s achievement. This time, failure was not an option for us. But success did not come easily either. We crafted the lander in such a way that any path it takes, it should land. That was our strategy this time. All our teams, particularly, across navigation, guidance, control, propulsion systems, sensors and all the components, worked in unison. The confidence stemmed from hundreds of lab tests and three important field tests. That was the most challenging task - creating the lunar environment on Earth and proving that all our systems would work before the launch. It was one of our important tasks," said Dr P Veeramuthuvel, Project Director, Chandrayaan-3, ISRO.
According to the press release, other ISRO scientists and engineers (IIT Madras Alumni), who were part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, shared their experiences during the event. They include:
1. Dr P Arun Kumar (1999/M.Tech/ME), Deputy Director, Earth Storable Engines and Stages (ESES)
2. Dr John Tharakan (1987/M.Tech/ME, 2001/PhD/AMBE), Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC)
3. Abdul Hameed, (2004/M.Tech/ ME) Scientist/Engineer, U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC)
4. Rajeev Senan C. (2005 / M.Tech / ME), Division Head, Monopropellant Systems & Components Division, LPSC
5. Dr Shamrao (2009/ M.Tech, 2020/PhD / ME), Scientist, URSC
6. H M Raghavendra Prasad (2012 / M.tech / ME), Scientist/Engineer, Head, Mechanism Assembly Section, Spacecraft Mechanisms Group, URSC
7. Dr S Mathavaraj, Scientist (2012 / M.Tech / AE), URSC
8. R Karthik (2019 / MS, PhD / EE), Scientist, LPSC
9. B S Phani Dinakar (2017 / M.Tech / ME), Scientist, URSC
10. Sakthivel M. (2017 / M.Tech / ME), Scientist/Engineer, Mechanism and Development Division, Spacecraft Mechanisms Group, URSC
“COVID has taught us that indigenous technology is extremely important to make our country a superpower in the next 25 years, as we march towards the 100th year of Independence. Very shortly after COVID, here is a great achievement where many inter-disciplinary activities, products and components have gone in. Here are the heroes who say that the sky is no longer the limit. We can go much above it," said Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras in the media release.
