Chandrayaan-3: Moon can become a launchpad for future space mission, says renowned astronomer Sachin Bahmba

Ahead of the much-anticipated launch of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission, Dr Sachin Bahmba, the founder of the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) Foundation, spoke to ETV Bharat's Saurabh Sharma.

New Delhi: India’s third mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-3 will take off today, 14 July at 2:35 pm from the Sriharikota Space Centre. The Mission aims to achieve what its predecessor could not — land softly on the lunar surface and explore it with a rover. Speaking to ETV Bharat, Dr Sachin Bahmba, the founder of the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) Foundation dwelled upon subjects like the space industry, the new contacts this mission will bring in and the mission of colonising the moon.

Q1. Chandrayan-3 will be launched today, what are your expectations and where does India with this stands in the space industry at the global level?

Answer:India is a very powerful nation and has grown day by day. It has already achieved many things which others haven't been able to do. But, we are still behind the United States (US), Japan Australia and others in the space industry. So this step of where we are going to demonstrate the possibility of landing on a satellite or any other planet is great and there are a lot of expectations. We know that we failed miserably last time due to technical failures but since then we have improved a lot. We are also signing treaties with US, Japan and others. Japan has already announced that if we are able to demonstrate successfully the landing, then it will do a joint project with us to study the moon further which I think is a very positive development. We already know how to send something from the earth to the moon and that too at a very low price. But to actually touch the surface, is something great. The future of India's space programme depends a lot on this. I expect that is going to bring in 10 billion dollar space industry contracts which will open up a lot of revenue generation market.

Q2. India is now showcasing that it can successfully carry out a soft landing on the surface, how important is this for the country?

Answer:Moon and Mars are the two most interesting bodies that international countries are looking at. A country that is able to land something on the moon, then in that case it will bring in more space programmes, funded by foreign states. It is wonderful for our space industry.

Q3. Although the focus this time is on Chandrayan-3, we also have other mega space projects like 'Gaganyan' which is under progress, what are your expectations?

Answer: Once we land something on the moon, then we've actually attained maturity. So we are a mid-level space agency which can take anything that is not living in orbit or anything which is not living and can land on a satellite or another planet or an asteroid. We are opening up a lot of possibilities for us but sending life into space and bringing it safe is something we are looking at and can take us to the next level. That's what I think, India will do as it's a very logical step. Since everybody is thinking of setting up colonies on the moon, we are actually getting these technologies and expertise first with the possibility that we'll send a human into space and will bring them back safely. This is the next step. It's a step towards colonizing the moon. Also, sending a mission from the Earth is 20 times more costly than sending a mission from the moon. So, that automatically becomes a launchpad for future space missions.