Chandrayaan-3 was launched last month and is expected to land at 6:04 pm local time on Wednesday, after Russia’s Luna-25 crashed into the moon on Sunday. According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Chandrayaan-3 is all set to create history by landing on the uncharted south pole of the moon and attempted soft-landing has been scheduled at 18:04 hrs IST. 

A rover, named Pragyan, or wisdom, will then analyze the chemical makeup of the moon’s surface and search for water over the course of one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 days on Earth.

Here are the scientist behind India’s lunar mission:

ISRO Chairman, S Somanath: ISRO Chairman S Somanath assumed leadership of ISRO in January 2022 and became a pivotal figure in India’s ambitious moon mission. Prior to this role, he had served as the director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre. Both of these are primary centres responsible for developing rocket technologies for ISRO. Missions like Chandrayaan-3, Aditya-L1 (a mission to study the Sun), and Gaganyaan (India’s first manned mission) are being overseeen by him. He is an expert in the area of system engineering of launch vehicles and his contributions in PSLV and GSLV MkIII were in their overall architecture, propulsion stages design, structural and structural dynamics designs, separation systems, vehicle integration, and integration procedures development.

Chandrayaan-3 Project Director, P Veeramuthuvel: P Veeramuthuvel took charge as the Project Director of Chandrayaan-3 in 2019. Aged about 46 years, he hails from a small family in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district, Ph.D holder Veeramuthuvel is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He succeeds Vanitha who was the project director of Chandrayaan-2 mission under the leadership of former ISRO Chief K Sivan. Before this, he had held the position of Deputy Director at the Space Infrastructure Programme Office at ISRO’s main office. 

Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), S Unnikrishnan Nair: S Unnikrishnan Nair is the Director of VSSC which is located in Thumba, Kerala. VSSC was responsible for developing the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark-III, now known as Launch Vehicle Mark-III. As the head of VSSC, S Unnikrishnan Nair and his team oversee various critical aspects of this vital mission.

Director of U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), M Sankaran: In 2021, M Sankaran assumed the role of Director at the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC). Sankaran leads the team responsible for crafting satellites that meet India’s diverse needs, including communication, navigation, remote sensing, weather forecasting, and planetary exploration. URSC is tasked with designing and constructing all of India’s satellites for ISRO. 

Updated: 23 Aug 2023, 09:17 AM IST