HYDERABAD: Stating that the Aditya-L1 insertion to Lagrange point will take place on Saturday, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman and Department of Space secretary Dr SP Somanath on Friday said that the satellite’s 1.5 million km journey is coming to an end.
“After the insertion, the satellite will be there, looking at the Sun and doing all the measurements. So, its journey of almost 1.5 million km is nearly getting completed,” Somanath said.The ISRO chairman was speaking at the 12th convocation of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) where he was conferred the Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa).
Regarding the PSLV XpoSat launched on January 1, Somanath said that it was doing “very well”. Disclosing that all its instruments had been slowly switched on and were working, he said that the results would be known soon.
Stating that 2024 is going to be an eventful year, Somanath said many launches were in the pipeline. He said that the upcoming launch will be a GSLV carrying INSAT-3DS, a climate and weather satellite that will track cyclones and look into weather, rains and droughts among other things. The satellite is scheduled to be launched this month or at the beginning of February, he added.Dubbing 2024 as “Gaganyaan year”, the ISRO chairman said that many launches for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme have also been planned.
In his convocation address, Somanath said that understanding the root cause of failure and correcting it takes a great amount of grit and determination. He urged students to work towards creating an environment where they are not let down by failures. Somanath said that three failures this year — the failure of the launch of GSLV, the inaugural launch of SSLV and the failure of the touchdown of Chandrayaan 2 — were eclipsed by the organisation’s successes.A total of 88,226 degrees and 54 gold medals were awarded during the convocation.