PERFECT 100
   Date :31-Jan-2025

editorial
 
T HE Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proved itself up to its own high standard -- by making possible a perfect 100th launch of a navigational satellite, thus scaling one more peak of excellence. Just a few days after it was able to dock two objects in space, the Indian space agency has achieved this feat -- which the world is hailing. Making a statement after the successful launch, ISRO chief Dr. V. Narayanan rightly paid tributes to Indian space programme’s founding father Dr. Vikram Sarabhai whose vision and early hard work laid the foundation of all the success that also included three lunar landings. For India, this is one of those proud moments that Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi described as an “incredible milestone” in the country’s space journey.
 
Thanks to the ISRO’s great work, India now sits in the elite league of space powers of the world. The atmosphere in the Mission Control room at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota was electric yet calm displaying a rare and clear confidence about the country’s space prowess. Every scientist -- present and past including former chiefs of ISRO -- was sure of the excellence woven into the 100th launch. There was no anxiety or unease as the countdown reached its last 0-0 moment. There was a thunderous clapping from the people present in the Space Centre. That clapping was followed by similar effervescence during the first minutes of the celebrated space flight as the Mission Control kept announcing success of different stages of the space vehicle’s trajectory. What underlined those moments was an intense awareness in everybody’s head and heart that history was being created in India’s space programme. This navigational satellite placed in geosynchronous orbit will be of multiple utilities to the country and the humanity. One of the most critical of its uses will pertain to facilitation of communications in India in a big way. There are other uses as well -- in the zone of weather predictions, for example. Its successful launch, therefore, will offer India a great advantage in many different ways.
 
With the successful 100th launch, the ISRO has given India a good and happy reason to look back on the history of how it started its forays into space when it had no resources including talented manpower in enough measures. Undaunted by paucity of financial resources and manpower shortage, founding fathers of India’s space programme retained their grit and determination and made the country’s one of the most powerful of the countries of the world. Thanks to all those efforts of seventy-plus years, ISRO has been able to place India on a high platform in space science. Today, the world recognise the original work the Indian scientists -- including that of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai -- and salutes them for the sheer grit they displayed when every effort was stymied by shortages. Space agencies of other countries were unwilling to lend a hand of help with the Indian scientists. It was in such a situation that Dr. Vikram Sarabhi announced that he would never allow any country to disturb India’s space programme and that his country would never fall short in efforts and dedication to achieve its space objectives. This is the moment, thus, to recall the great contributions of India’s space scientists to national development.
 
They are the people who made their space missions most economical and most efficient. They are the people who created their own space engineering projects when the world turned them down. It is thanks to their grit and the support of the political leadership that ISRO has by now become a leading space agency in the world. As the country celebrates the perfect 100th space launch, it is time for every Indian citizen to feel proud of the country’s achievement.