KOLKATA: With a week to go for Indian Space Research Organisation ( Isro ) to set foot on Moon , a leading Indian scientist said the agency needed to connect with students closer home to make an even deeper impact.“Isro has taken great strides and has some remarkable achievements under its belt. Yet, it has been very reluctant to speak about it publicly. It is only recently that the organisation has appointed a couple of communications officials. The US space agency, Nasa , in contrast, employs hundreds of space science communicators, who have been carrying out educational and outreach programme for decades. Isro needs to do that. It needs to speak to citizens so that taxpayers know where their money is being spent. And it needs to reach out to students to inspire young minds,” Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics director Somak Raychaudhury told TOI on Friday, days before Chandrayaan 2 lander Vikram’s date with Moon early on September 7.He recounted how images of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon when he was a Class-II student and subsequent Nasa educational programmes had been instrumental in his becoming an astrophysicist . Isro could similarly inspire thousands of students to pursue space science and dream about going to the moon, he said. “Landing on Moon is always a difficult proposition due to the difficult topography, problems in controlling the velocity of the lander to minimise impact and uncertainties about the local atmosphere. In the past, half the attempts have failed. For Vikram, the odds are stacked a little higher because it will attempt to land near the moon’s south pole, an unchartered territory as most of the landings have happened in its equatorial region. A success will definitely give Isro a huge fillip but a failure should not be viewed as catastrophic. The orbiter will continue to study the moon. If it chooses to do so, there are many success stories that the organisation can narrate on the mission,” said Raychaudhuri.Interacting with students of 14 schools at Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Raychaudhury explained how exploring the moon to know about its origin could throw light on the birth of our planet. “The mission may be a step towards setting up a base station there in future. In the future of our planet, humans will have to move out and colonise satellites and planets. In these long inter-stellar journeys, staging is important and space station and moon will be pit stops to refuel and rest. This reconnaissance to know the chemical composition of everything in the moon’s atmosphere and surface is important,” he explained.