AHMEDABAD: The much-anticipated second sojourn of an Indian spacecraft to the Moon has seen delays in the recent past, pushing its probable launch date to January 2019. However, the ambitious Chandrayaan II project is now almost ready.

Eminent scientist and former Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) director Prof J N Goswami, speaking on sidelines of his lecture at IIT Gandhinagar , said that the project is ‘almost ready’ and has shaped well. “We are expecting the launch in next few months,” he said.

Prof Goswami, who was chief scientist of Chandrayaan I mission and was associated with the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and Chandrayaan II projects in different capacities, said that India’s space programme is taking shape slowly but steadily. He said that ISRO’s focus is different compared to its counterparts elsewhere.

“Thus, we have seen two missions in past decade in form of Chandrayaan I (2008) and MOM (2013-14). Both posed very different challenges. While we sought help from other nations in some aspects, we did everything on our own when it came to MOM. It was a major success as the orbiter provided scientific data including information on outermost layer of Mars’ atmosphere,” he said.

When questioned about India’s manned space mission, Goswami said that everyone associated with the project has a positive mindset and he has full faith in ISRO. He said that such projects should take some time to ensure success.

During the lecture, he took the audience through formative years of ISRO and India’s space programme, and how over the years the team overcame challenges — right from designing launch vehicles to planning inter-planetary missions. He also asked the students not to be deterred by failures and learn from mistakes. He encouraged them to look beyond the solar system, citing examples of the missions like Kepler space observatory.

Activity-filled first day at Amalthea

The first day of the two-day Amalthea, IIT Gandhinagar’s technical summit, saw a talk by Kush Saxena, CTO of MasterCard, showcasing the latest technology in fields of robotics, gaming, safety engineering and renewable energy among others. Humanoid robots were the centre of attraction for the visitors. Student teams from various institutions also competed in drone racing and drift racing at the venue. A symposium on solar energy also took place. The second day would see a robotic workshop along with talks and student events.

