Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) has announced a new project “Chandrayaan-2” that might be yet another breakthrough in space technology and research. Set to launch on 15th July, this mission will be a Lander and Rover mission to the South Pole of moon.
While this mission had been brewing up for quite a while, it was initially set out to be a Joint venture between Russian Space agency, Roscosmos. While ISRO was assigned to take responsibility for the orbiter and rover, Roscosmos was supposed to provide the lander.
After years of working together since 2007 on the project, Roscosmos withdrew in 2015 due to the incapacity in its lunar technology, India since then has been working independently on this project.
One of the unique features of this project is that while STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and math) has pre dominantly been a male dominated sector, Chandrayaan-2 is actually being steered by two women scientists- M. Vanitha and Ritu Karidhal.
- Vanitha is the first female scientist to be project director in any ISRO project. She was also awarded Best Woman Scientist award in 2006 by the Astronomical Society of India.
Ritu Karidhal, popularly known as the “Rocket Woman of India” was the deputy operations director in the mars orbiter mission where she got her nick name. She also received the ISRO Young Scientist Award in 2007 by none other than science veteran and the late President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Both these capable women have uplifted the poor standards that women scientists face in the scientific sector. While ISRO has a total strength of only 20% female employees, the ones involved in science and technology sector are merely 12%. In comparison to this Chandrayaan-2 mission had a workforce that included 30% of females.
If successful, then India will be the first country to explore the southern polar area of the Moon and the fourth country to soft land their rover on the Moon’s surface after USA, USSR and China. According to announcements, new technologies will be used to conduct various experiments and on-site chemical analysis.
If successful, this mission will make history and broaden the knowledge that we have about the functioning of space and other celestial bodies. The country awaits, along with pioneers of science and technology from all around the globe for 15th of July, the mark of a new era of extraterrestrial information.
