How ISRO's masala dosa and filter coffee at 5 pm powered Chandrayaan-3's success

Chandrayaan 3 made history by soft landing on the moon's elusive south pole.

Amid the astounding achievement of India’s moon mission, an inside tale, buried beneath the accolades and headlines, emerges from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), where a humble masala dosa at 5 pm played a crucial role in propelling Chandrayaan-3 to success.

When Chandrayaan-3 faced the daunting task of achieving the impossible, there were no financial incentives to dangle before ISRO's workforce. Journalist Barkha Dutt, in an opinion piece for The Washington Post, wrote about what kept the team going.

"We cracked it by offering a free masala dosa and filter coffee at 5pm every evening," reveals Venkateshwara Sharma, a mission scientist. The result was a remarkable surge in motivation, as everyone willingly invested extra hours. “Suddenly, everyone was happy to stay on longer”.

Sharma himself found love amid the lunar challenges, marrying one of the key leads on the project.

Former ISRO director Surendra Pal reminisced to Dutt about a time when a communication satellite was transported on a simple bullock cart, an endeavour that cost a mere 150 rupees. "We spend only on essentials. Our scientists put in more effort than any other scientists in any other company — in India or abroad," adds Madhavan Nair, another former ISRO head.

ISRO also shared a remarkable photograph of a cycle transporting parts saying, "cycle se, chand tak (from a bicycle to the moon)".

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Nair also told Dutt that ISRO scientists are paid one-fifth as much as their global counterparts earn.

The most striking part, however, is the cost-efficiency of India's lunar endeavours. Chandrayaan-3's budget of Rs 615 crore, equivalent to $75 million in 2020, pales in comparison to Hollywood's space blockbuster "Interstellar," produced at a staggering cost of $165 million. This contrast underscores the achievement of executing a real-space mission at a fraction of the expense of a silver-screen spectacle.

In comparison, the Chandrayaan-2 mission had a total cost of Rs 978 crore.

Last month, India etched its name in history by successfully landing Chandrayaan-3 on the moon's enigmatic South Pole, a milestone that crowned it as the first country to achieve this feat and the fourth to accomplish a successful lunar landing.

The pivotal moment of soft-landing was termed the "17 minutes of terror" by ISRO officials. During this phase, the lander meticulously fired its engines at the precise time and altitude while scanning the lunar surface for potential obstacles before gently touching down.

Read: 'India, I reached my destination': ISRO confirms Chandrayaan 3's soft-landing on moon

As the Lunar Module, comprising the lander Vikram and rover Pragyan, safely nestled on the lunar surface on August 23, the nation celebrated an extraordinary accomplishment.

Also read: Chandrayaan's detection of sulphur, other elements will help unveil Moon's geological mysteries, say experts