Mars Adventure: ISRO Scientist Who Fuelled Mangalyaan Awarded
Mars Adventure: ISRO Scientist Who Fuelled Mangalyaan Awarded
High failure rate of Mars missions worldwide have not deterred the Indian scientists. Well known Indian space scientist U. R. Rao expressed hope that India's solo journey to the red planet will be a major success. Indian launched the Mars Orbiter Mission called "Mangalyaan" in the month of November in 2013. Completing the 540 million kilometre journey, the spacecraft will reach Mars on 24th of September. “More than 30 per cent of Mars missions failed in the beginning, but we have undertaken this for the first time and we will succeed. On September 24, we will go to Mars,” said Professor Rao who is the chairman at the Council of Management , Physical Research Laboratory at Ahemdabad.
On the sidelines of the award function managed by PRL which is a unit of the Department of Space of the Government of India, Professor Rao indicated that “we would be able to colonise Mars in less than 1,000 years.” Indian scientists are also involved in the L1 mission for studying the sun. The L1 point of the Earth-Sun system provides a view of the sun without any interruptions. It is hoped that the government will soon grant approval for the project. In the absence of knowledge about the sun, more information is needed and Professor Rao stressed the critical importance of this project. “I am surprised no scientific person is working on the solar corona. We know so little about the Sun. The ignorance is amazing. Papers are being written but we cannot make head or tail of them. Today we have the technological ability to do it. Why are scientific people not doing it? If you have to do great science, you have to have an adventurous attitude,” he mentioned to the scientific community at PRL.
Awardees at the PRL function included Joji J. Chaman as well as Dr. Tarun Kumar Pant, Professor Souvik Mahapatra, Dr. J. S. Ray and Dr. N. V. Chalapathi Rao. ISRO scientist Joji J. Chaman started his invention using items such as a humble plastic mug and a wire of Teflon. He went on to design the device larger than a paper pin saving fuel onboard the Mars Orbiter Mission. He was awarded for his indigenous invention at the Physical Research Laboratory/PRL event along with the others. "It is a wonderful thought to think that something that you made is about to reach Mars" Joji Chaman who is the Group Head of the Mechanical Design and Production, ISRO Inertial Systems Unit or the IISU Thiruvanathapuram is quoted by the media as having said following the receipt of the the Shri Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr Vikram Sarabhai Research Award 2013.
Chaman shared with reporters of The Indian Express that he had started inventing the device known as the Ceramic Servo Accelerometer in the year 2003, with "the only investments". The device is current 50 grams in weight and it saves fuel and measures acceleration as well as velocity and position of the space-craft. This device was added to the Chandrayaan-1 and the improved version is now part of MOM or the Mars Orbiter Mission. The Ceramic Servo Accelerometer will perform a crucial function when the MOM space-craft or Mangalyaan tries to enter the red planet's orbit. The device will be especially important when the MOM spacecraft has slowed down through velocity reduction at the rate of one kilometer per second. The Mangalyaan currently has 290 kilograms of fuel remaining and around 240 kilograms of fuel will be burnt as the space-craft enters the Mars Orbit on September 24. "This award is not only for me, but for the entire team (about ten members) who worked on this device," the scientist was also quoted as having said. The scientist was given the award in the Space Application category for innovative and massive contributions in inertial navigation systems for space-crafts used for terrestrial and planetary missions.
Apart from Chaman, others who received the award on Tuesday include Dr Tarun Kumar Pant who was recognised for his work in Space sciences. He had obtained his PhD degree from Gujarat University and is currently at the Space Physics Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram. Souvik Mahapatra, a professor at department of Electrical and Engineering, IIT-Bombay and Ranjan Bose, a Microsoft chair professor at IIT-Delhi were among the awardees. Others who receive the award in other categories include, NV Chalapathi Rao, a faculty member at the Department of Geology, Centre of Advanced Study, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and JS Ray, a PRL scientist. Each award carries a medal and a cash prize of Rs 50,000.
