Chandrayaan-3 mission: Indian space tech startups hail ISRO for historic feat

Chandrayaan 3 successfully landed on the surface of the moon on August 23

Taking cognisance of the historic feat of India in becoming the first country in the world to land a spacecraft (Chandrayaan-3) successfully on the Moon's South Pole, Indian space startups and bodies representing such startups, are lauding the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for this momentous achievement.

Indian Space Association, which represents around 30 Indian space tech start-ups, apart from bigger players such as major players such as Bharti Airtel, L&T, and OneWeb said that this achievement will help in establishing a lunar economy and  encouraging broader celestial exploration.

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"We applaud ISRO on the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 which shows India's strong spirit of space exploration and our prowess in the space domain," Lt Gen AK Bhatt (retd.), Director General, Indian Space Association said.

"The successful landing shows the potential of the Indian space sector and places India among the very few nations in the whole world who have achieved this feat... An important step forward in space exploration and commercialization will be with the inclusion of more private players and our growing spacetech startups in the future missions to make a India a leader in the global space economy” he added.

Chandrayaan-3's lander Vikram, and rover Pragyan successfully landed on a pre-identified spot on the lunar surface at 6.03 pm. The descending maneuver started at around 5.40 pm, and over the next 20 minutes the lander's speed had to be reduced from 1.6 km/seconds, to so low that it could safely land on the Moon.

"We were 200 people watching in one room as the vertical and horizontal velocities stabilised and as the altitude came close to 0. And then the team erupted in sheer joy. The announcements, the display screens were all very relatable and I think for all of us it is a big shot of inspiration to do an awesome set of launches for India," Srinath Ravichandran, CEO and co-founder of Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos told Moneycontrol.

"Overflowing with pride as an Indian and deeply inspired by ISRO’s unwavering resilience as Chandrayaan3 made a spot-on landing on the South Pole, creating history. We now joined the elite club of 4 countries who landed on the moon and first to land on the South Pole. This mission is done with such precision and at unprecedented cost proves that the century belongs to India," said Pawan Kumar Chandana, CEO and co-founder of the first Indian private company to launch into space, Skyroot Aerospace.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Anirudh Sharma CEO and co-founder of Bengaluru-based space tech startup Digantara said, "We are excited about the soft landing of Chandrayaan 3. This marks a pivotal moment for both Indian Space Ecosystem and the global space community. The challenges of space exploration are immense and unforgiving, and achieving a soft touchdown on another celestial body amplifies those complexities, we have seen that with the recent Luna 25 Mission."

"Successful landing on the Lunar South Pole Lunar South Pole would not only be a historic achievement but also a testament to the remarkable calibre and resilience of the Indian space ecosystem. As the world looks to ISRO and India, it’s also time for the New Space ecosystem to capitalise and live up to the expectation and deliver," Sharma added.

In the coming days, lander and rover will conduct experiments on the surface of the Moon. Experts said that they can look for minerals that can give insights into the evolution of the Moon. It can also help in identifying minerals that India may like to extract in the future.

Another area of importance will be expanding on the discoveries of Chandrayaan-1, specifically with regards to water molecules on the South Pole, and seeing if water molecules can be split into hydrogen and oxygen. This would have immense ramification in future human habitation or fuel programmes.