Page 35 - Insurance Times October 2023

India's recent

landing on moon &

related tidbits of

Satellite Insurance Anabil Bhattacharya

Insurance Consultant,
B.M.E. (H) (Jadavpur University)
& F.I.I.I. (I.I.I.), Mumbai,
Former Chief Manage
H.O., N.I.C.L., Kolkata.

We, all the Indians were feeling very excited at that moment. All Indians shouted when
Chandrayaan-3 landed. It was a very proud moment of our country's extra-ordinary achievement -
when several people danced to drum beats and chanted slogans. We felt highly proud of our
country. We saw how the Vikram Lander touched the Moon.

1. Prologue: completed restoring the requisite communication with
Chandrayaan-3's Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover after
The Lander Module (LM) of the Indian Space Research
the two were put to be landed there and started monitoring
Organization's (ISRO) third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3,
launched on July 14, made a successful landing on the to collect information on the moon and sending those to all
of us.
Moon's surface on August 23, making India only the fourth
country after the erstwhile USSR, the U.S. and China to make
Earlier Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to Moon, was
a soft landing on the lunar surface. We, all the Indians were
launched successfully on October 22, 2008 from SDSC SHAR,
feeling very excited at that moment. All Indians shouted
Sriharikota. The spacecraft continued orbiting around the
when Chandrayaan-3 landed. It was a very proud moment
Moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for
of our country's extra-ordinary achievement - when several
people danced to drum beats and chanted slogans. We felt chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the
Moon.
highly proud of our country. We saw how the Vikram Lander
touched the Moon.
Subsequently, the next venture Chandrayaan-2 was supposed
It was an emotional moment for all of us, People in several to hover above the intended landing site in order to make a
parts of the country also held special prayers at temples, soft vertical descent at 'walking pace' conveniently.
mosques and gurdwaras since the early hours of that day, However, the Lander crashed, or made a hard landing, on
for the successful landing, while several schools remained the Moon's surface because of its high velocity. Former ISRO
open for a few extra hours to enable students to watch the Chairman K Sivan has revealed that a small error during the
historic moment there. Now that excitement is over. The Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019 led to its failure. However,
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has already he expressed satisfaction that the error was identified and

The Insurance Times October 2023 33