Impressed by Chandrayaan-3, American space experts wanted India to sell its tech to US: ISRO chief

ISRO chairman S Somanath on Sunday (Oct 15) said that the experts, who were given the task of developing complex rocket missions in the United States, appealed to India to share space technology with them after seeing the development of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.

Speaking at an event in Rameswaram, he said that the times have changed and India has the capacity to build the best of the best rockets and devices, and this is the reason why Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened the space sector to private players.

Somanath was speaking to students during a programme organised by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s Foundation to commemorate the late former president's 92nd birth anniversary.

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“Our country is a very powerful nation. You understand that? Our knowledge and intelligence level in the country is one of the best in the world. In Chandrayaan-3, when we designed and developed the spacecraft, we invited experts from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Nasa-JPL, who do all the rockets and most difficult mission," the ISRO chief said.

“About five to six people from Nasa-JPL came (to Isro headquarters) and we explained to them about Chandrayaan-3. That was before the soft landing took place (on August 23). We explained how we designed it and how our engineers made it, and how we are going to land on the Moon’s surface, and they just said, 'no comments. everything is going to be good'," he added.

'Sell these advanced scientific instruments to the US'

JPL is a research and development laboratory, which is getting funded by NASA and is being managed by the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) in the US.

“They (US space experts) also said one thing, 'look at the scientific instruments, they are very cheap. Very easy to build and they are advanced. How did you build it? Why don’t you sell this to America,' they were asking," he stated. "So you (students) can understand how times have changed. We are capable of building the best equipment, the best devices, and the best rockets in India. That is why our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened the space sector," Somanath added.

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On August 23, India's Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully landed near the south pole of the Moon, which made it the first country in the world to achieve the feat of touching the dark side of the lunar surface and the fourth overall to land on the moon after China, the Soviet Union and the US.

"Now we are telling you people (to) come and build rockets and satellites and make our nation more powerful in space technology. It is not only ISRO, everybody can do it in space. There is one company in Chennai building rockets called Agnikul and another in Hyderabad called Skyroot. At least in India, there are five companies today building rockets and satellites," Somanath further said to the students.

(With inputs from agencies)

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