India’s shot for the moon, on target
Who said that to be part of a moon mission you need to be associated with organizations like NASA or ISRO? Well, times have changed, giving rise to newer opportunities. Google Lunar XPrize (GLXP) competition, which was announced in 2007, enables organizations to be the first to land a privately funded robot on the moon. The mission is to successfully land on the moon by December 2017, travel 500 meters on the lunar surface and transmit high-definition images and videos.
Sounds cool, doesn’t it? What’s even cooler is that India’s very own Team Indus is among the top three teams to embark on this mission.
Many moons ago, in 1969, Neil Armstrong took a giant leap for mankind. But talent and technology will help us take an even bigger leap this time around. Team Indus, which was almost one of the last teams to enter the GXLP competition, had to depend on these two factors to make it this far in competition.
The Bangalore-based team has developed a micro rover for this mission, carefully considering all lunar and space conditions, such as lunar soil, lunar surface, and lunar temperature. In 2013, Team Indus received a $1-million prize for its landing algorithms for a smooth touchdown on the lunar surface.
For a successful launch, which is scheduled in December 2017 from Sriharikota, the team had to be future ready with its strategies. While achieving this herculean task, technology was the best friend. But technology has been evolving exponentially over the last decade.
When the government privatized the telecom sector, it made the whole industry so much accessible. Privatizing space missions will bring greater advantages to humanity.
Karan Vaish, systems engineer at Team Indus, said they anticipated this disruption, but all the fundamentals remained the same.
"We developed strategies mitigated for risk, soil and temperature, and other variables, and as time progressed, we considered what would be present in the market in a couple of years," Vaish says.
However, he also says that since this was the first time that such a project was being undertaken, they ensured minimum risks at all stages.
"We have to be very safe and choose reliable components that have had years of heritage," he adds.
Even with the best technology from all over the world, Team Indus, which started with just a handful of people, wanted to build a team that believed in the "once impossible" mission.
Space science, astronomy, astrophysics and other similar subjects are not seen as mainstream in India. Because of this, Sheelika Ravishankar, who is the people lead at Team Indus, says that the team did not have any specific requirements for the job.
"The right attitude and the right passion—that was what we looked for when building our team," Ravishankar says.
Currently there are almost 100 people in the team, ranging from recent engineering graduates to retired ISRO scientists.
The best possible technology and the best possible team might be in place. But in the future what does this mean for space exploration, a sector which is almost government funded? There are very few private players in this space, to the extent that there aren’t clear regulations for private players.
Sceptics may be many, but Ravishankar says that privatization of space exploration will open greater possibilities for technological advancement in the future.
"When the government privatized the telecom sector, it made the whole industry so much accessible, and this led to newer technologies in the industry. Privatizing space missions will bring greater advantages to humanity," she says.
Sounds cool, doesn’t it? What’s even cooler is that India’s very own Team Indus is among the top three teams to embark on this mission.
Many moons ago, in 1969, Neil Armstrong took a giant leap for mankind. But talent and technology will help us take an even bigger leap this time around. Team Indus, which was almost one of the last teams to enter the GXLP competition, had to depend on these two factors to make it this far in competition.
The Bangalore-based team has developed a micro rover for this mission, carefully considering all lunar and space conditions, such as lunar soil, lunar surface, and lunar temperature. In 2013, Team Indus received a $1-million prize for its landing algorithms for a smooth touchdown on the lunar surface.
For a successful launch, which is scheduled in December 2017 from Sriharikota, the team had to be future ready with its strategies. While achieving this herculean task, technology was the best friend. But technology has been evolving exponentially over the last decade.
When the government privatized the telecom sector, it made the whole industry so much accessible. Privatizing space missions will bring greater advantages to humanity.
Karan Vaish, systems engineer at Team Indus, said they anticipated this disruption, but all the fundamentals remained the same.
"We developed strategies mitigated for risk, soil and temperature, and other variables, and as time progressed, we considered what would be present in the market in a couple of years," Vaish says.
However, he also says that since this was the first time that such a project was being undertaken, they ensured minimum risks at all stages.
"We have to be very safe and choose reliable components that have had years of heritage," he adds.
Even with the best technology from all over the world, Team Indus, which started with just a handful of people, wanted to build a team that believed in the "once impossible" mission.
Space science, astronomy, astrophysics and other similar subjects are not seen as mainstream in India. Because of this, Sheelika Ravishankar, who is the people lead at Team Indus, says that the team did not have any specific requirements for the job.
"The right attitude and the right passion—that was what we looked for when building our team," Ravishankar says.
Currently there are almost 100 people in the team, ranging from recent engineering graduates to retired ISRO scientists.
The best possible technology and the best possible team might be in place. But in the future what does this mean for space exploration, a sector which is almost government funded? There are very few private players in this space, to the extent that there aren’t clear regulations for private players.
Sceptics may be many, but Ravishankar says that privatization of space exploration will open greater possibilities for technological advancement in the future.
"When the government privatized the telecom sector, it made the whole industry so much accessible, and this led to newer technologies in the industry. Privatizing space missions will bring greater advantages to humanity," she says.
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