How A Farmer’s Son Contributed To The Successful Launch Of Chandrayaan-II

At the second attempt, India has successfully launched Chandrayaan-II without any complications. Behind the successful launch is the hard work of an extraordinary team among which is a scientist whose name is Chandrakanta.

Mudhusudhan Kumar is a farmer in Shibpur Village who wanted to give his son the name Suryakanta. However, the kid’s teacher recommended him the name Chandrakanta instead.

In English, Chandrakanta means “moon child”. It seems like his destiny is set when he was given that name as later on he became a senior scientist at ISRO (India Space Research Organization.) And his is now one of the people who direct the mission of the Chandrayaan-2.

In an interview with News18, Chandrakanta’s father talked about the mission’s postponement:

Chandrakanta worked on the antenna systems for Indian ground stations as well as satellites. He was also a part of previous space missions such as GSAT-12, ASTROSAT, and Chandrayaan-1. This time, Chandrakanta was the Deputy Project Director who was in charge of the RF system. He also led UR Rao Satellite Centre’s “Electromagnetics” Section.

His mother said in an interview, overwhelmed by her feeling:

Chandrakanta’s younger brother, who is also a scientist's name. His parents named him Sashikant, also after the moon. The inspirational story of Chandrakanta of how far he has come with a humble background should give students hope and encouragement.

Chandrayaan-II will make its landing on the moon on Sept 7, 2019. One of the mission’s fascinating facts is the Chandrayaan-II is made entirely in India. Exploring the moon’s South Pole is the aim of the mission, which no moon mission has carried out before.