| National Space Day | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the first National Space Day, 23 August 2024 | |
| Official name | National Space Day |
| Observed by | India |
| Type | National |
| Significance | Commemorates Chandrayaan-3's successful landing on the Moon |
| Date | 23 August |
| First time | 23 August 2024 |
| Related to | www |
National Space Day in India commemorates the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon. [1] It is celebrated on 23 August. [2]
On 23 August 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation reached a significant milestone by successfully landing Chandrayaan-3's lander and rover on the Moon. [3] With this, India became the fourth country to land on the Moon and first to land near the southern polar region of the Moon. The soft-landing was followed by successful deployment of Pragyan Rover. Recognizing this achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed August 23 as "National Space Day" in India. [4] [5] [6]
The first National Space Day will be celebrated across India in 2024. [7] The Government of India is launching a month-long campaign to showcase the achievements of India's space missions and to inspire the youth. This year's theme, "Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga," highlights the significant impact of space exploration on society and technology. [8]
A grand two-day event will take place at Bharat Mandapam in honour of National Space Day, showcasing a range of high-profile sessions, interactive exhibitions, and significant announcements related to India’s space achievements.
This project involves mobile exhibition buses that will travel to various universities and colleges during National Space Day celebrations. On January 24, 2023, ISRO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a prominent science organisation Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), which is dedicated to promoting scientific knowledge and awareness, to collaborate on a unique initiative called “Space on Wheels.”
The primary goal of this initiative is to disseminate information about ISRO’s activities and India’s space missions to school students across all states of India. This collaboration represents a joint effort between VIBHA and ISRO to enhance public understanding of space science and foster greater interest in space exploration.
Space Tutors are educators and mentors registered with ISRO who are dedicated to advancing space science and technology education. They play a crucial role in engaging students and the public through various outreach activities. In response to the evolving educational landscape, ISRO is committed to disseminating enriched knowledge in the space domain.
To support this, numerous NGOs and educational institutions have developed frameworks that encourage students to register and explore space science and technology. These frameworks include educational modules with books and lab work that complement regular classroom learning. Additionally, digital content creators and online educators use social media and mobile applications to offer virtual learning experiences.
ISRO's 120 registered Space Tutors will organize outreach events such as talks, quizzes, and exhibitions across the country, aiming to promote space education and raise awareness about space activities and applications. They will receive support through promotional materials to enhance their efforts in fostering scientific curiosity and innovative thinking among students.
The Bharatiya Antariksh Hackathon 2024 is a key feature of the National Space Day-2024 celebrations, aiming to discover innovative ideas and solutions in Space Tech. As India continues to advance in space research and exploration, this premier event seeks to inspire the next generation of innovators to contribute to the nation’s space missions.
Organized by ISRO, the national-level hackathon will present students with various problem statements, encouraging them to develop creative solutions. Teams will be shortlisted based on their responses to compete in the finale at selected centres.
Exceptional students from the finale will be offered internships at ISRO centres. The top three winners of the hackathon will have the opportunity to showcase their applications during the National Space Day celebrations on August 23, 2024.
The ISRO Robotics Challenge was launched on November 8, 2023, with an extended period for registration and proposal submissions. Following team selections and the release of competition details, participants showcased their hardware and rover functionality through video submissions and design reports.
With the tagline “Let’s Build a Space Robot,” this challenge offers students a chance to engage in space robotics. Teams from institutions are tasked with creating robots for an extraterrestrial-inspired arena, addressing real-world space robotics challenges.
A lander is a spacecraft that descends towards, then comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth. In contrast to an impact probe, which makes a hard landing that damages or destroys the probe upon reaching the surface, a lander makes a soft landing after which the probe remains functional.
Indian Space Research Organisation is India's national space agency. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister of India, with the Chairman of ISRO also serving as the chief executive of the DoS. It is primarily responsible for space-based operations, space exploration, international space cooperation and the development of related technologies. The agency maintains a constellation of imaging, communication and remote sensing satellites. It operates the GAGAN and IRNSS satellite navigation systems. It has sent three missions to the Moon and one mission to Mars.
Chandrayaan-1 was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan programme. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included an orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft using a PSLV-XL rocket on 22 October 2008 at 00:52 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The mission was a major boost to India's space program, as India researched and developed indigenous technology to explore the Moon. The vehicle was inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.
A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959.
The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it.
A rover is a planetary surface exploration device designed to move over the rough surface of a planet or other planetary mass celestial bodies. Some rovers have been designed as land vehicles to transport members of a human spaceflight crew; others have been partially or fully autonomous robots. Rovers are typically created to land on another planet via a lander-style spacecraft, tasked to collect information about the terrain, and to take crust samples such as dust, soil, rocks, and even liquids. They are essential tools in space exploration.
SELENE-2, or the Selenological and Engineering Explorer 2, is a cancelled Japanese robotic mission to the Moon that would have included an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It was intended as a successor to the 2007 SELENE (Kaguya) lunar orbiter.
Chandrayaan-2 is the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, the Vikram lunar lander, and the Pragyan rover, all of which were developed in India. The main scientific objective is to map and study the variations in lunar surface composition, as well as the location and abundance of lunar water.
A lunar rover or Moon rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of the Moon. The Apollo program's Lunar Roving Vehicle was driven on the Moon by members of three American crews, Apollo 15, 16, and 17. Other rovers have been partially or fully autonomous robots, such as the Soviet Union's Lunokhods, Chinese Yutus, Indian Pragyan, and Japan's LEVs. Five countries have had operating rovers on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India, and Japan.
The (Japanese) Lunar Exploration Program is a program of robotic and human missions to the Moon undertaken by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and its division, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). It is also one of the three major enterprises of the JAXA Space Exploration Center (JSPEC). The main goal of the program is "to elucidate the origin and evolution of the Moon and utilize the Moon in the future".
The Chandrayaan programme also known as the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme is an ongoing series of outer space missions by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the exploration of the Moon. The program incorporates a lunar orbiter, an impactor, a soft lander and a rover spacecraft.
Pragyan is a lunar rover that forms part of Chandrayaan-3, a lunar mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX), also known as Chandrayaan-5 in India, is a planned joint lunar mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission would send an uncrewed lunar lander and rover to explore the south pole region of the Moon no earlier than 2026. It is envisaged to explore the permanently shadowed regions and to determine the quantity and quality of water on the Moon. JAXA is likely to provide the H3 launch vehicle and the rover, while ISRO would be providing the lander.
Chandrayaan-3 is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a series of lunar-exploration missions developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission consists of a Vikram lunar lander and a Pragyan lunar rover was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 14 July 2023. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 5 August, and India became the first country to touch down near the lunar south pole, at 69°S, the southernmost lunar landing on 23 August 2023 at 18:03 IST, ISRO became the first agency to land on the south pole of the moon in its first attempt & overall the fourth space agency to successfully land on the Moon, after USSR, NASA and the CNSA.
Chandrayaan-4 is a planned lunar sample return mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the fourth iteration in its Chandrayaan lunar exploration programme. The mission is currently under conceptualization and expected to launch around 2027.It is planned to return upto 3 Kilograms of lunar regolith from near Statio Shiv Shakti the landing site of Chandrayaan-3.
Statio Shiv Shakti or Shiv Shakti Point is the landing site of Chandrayaan-3, the third lunar mission of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission's lander Vikram and rover Pragyan landed 600 km from the south pole of the Moon on 23 August 2023. The landing site was named on 26 August 2023 at the ISTRAC headquarters in Bengaluru, after India became the fourth nation to make a successful soft landing on the Moon and also becoming the first country that landed on the lunar south pole. Statio Shiv Shakti is located at the coordinates 69.373°S 32.319°E and lies between the lunar craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N. It has been proposed that the upcoming sample-return mission Chandrayaan-4 also land near the point.
Pragyan is a lunar rover that forms part of Chandrayaan-2, a lunar mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The rover was launched as part of Chandrayaan-2 on 22 July 2019 and was destroyed with its lander, Vikram, when it crashed on the Moon on 6 September 2019.
