Cast From The Past: When Dr Abdul Kalam proposed, 'Why not land on Moon'

Nearly two decades before an Indian spacecraft successfully landed on Moon, in 2004, top scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) met the then President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam at a seminar in Udaipur. Dr Kalam, popularly regarded as 'Missile Man of India' for his distinguished contribution to India's civilian space programme, intently listened to the scientists.

The topic of deliberation was a lunar mission aimed at orbiting moon, an event that occurred four years later after the success of Chandrayaan-1 space mission in 2008.

But Dr M. Annadurai, the then project director of Chandrayaan-1 mission, revealed one suggestion by Dr Kalam stood out.

"Why not land on Moon!,"Dr Kalam is reported to have suggested Annadurai, according to a Times of India report.

"Kalam was talking about the Chandrayaan-3 programme, much before it was conceptualised," Annadurai was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The late scientist president, who heralded an era of generation-defining achievements in space science for India, remains an inspiration to hundreds of scientists across a dozen ISRO centres involved in the design, development, testing and realisation of Chandrayaan-3 mission.

In his 2012 book Turning Points: A journey through challenges, Kalam described Chandrayaan mission "just the first step towards India's further planetary explorations and manned missions".

The birth of Moon Impact Probe

Now that Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 mission has safely landed on lunar surface, many would believe that this is the first Indian object on Moon. Neither are the crash landed remnants of the lander of Chandrayaan-2 mission launched four years ago.

File photo of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Chandrayaan lunar mission was announced by Vajpayee during Independence Day address on August 15, 2003 | AFP

Dr Kalam wrote in 'Turning points': "In 2006, the then chairman of ISRO briefed me on his future space plans including the Chandrayaan mission to explore the moon, which I am sure is just the first step towards further planetary explorations and manned missions... I suggested that the mission could include a combined entry package to the moon with at least one telemetry channel, with density or pressure measurement or tone ranging. This payload would enable us to gather data directly from the moon’s surface. The chairman promised to include this payload. This led to the birth of the Moon Impact Probe as a part of the Chandrayaan mission. To my delight, the probe landed on the moon’s surface on 14 November 2008 exactly in the pre-determined area."

The Moon Impact Probe had the Indian tricolour inscribed on it, and just like Kalam had suggested, contained a high-resolution spectrometer and other instruments to probe the lunar surface. One of them, the Chandra's Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) recorded evidence of water in 650 mass spectra readings gathered during 25 minutes of its descent.

In his memoir Rocketing Through The Skies, the then ISRO chief G. Madhavan Nair describes the moment when Moon Impact Probe touched the lunar surface.

"An hour before the MIP was to be detached from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former president of India and my guru, strode into the control room flashing his trademark smile."

The then chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair on October 22, 2008, after the successful launch of India's first Lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 | AFP

"As we looked anxiously at the screens in the control room, the MIP descended on the Moon and finally impacted at a spot near the pole, beside the Shackleton crater. The flag on the MIP inscribed India's presence on the Moon forever," Nair wrote further.

"It was heartening that this moment was witnessed by Dr Kalam, who had originally put forth the idea that India must place its flag on the moon."

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