BENGALURU: It will be an unusually early morning for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he joins bleary-eyed space scientists to watch them steer Mangalyaan into its orbit around Mars on September 24. Mr Modi, who has established a good rapport with space scientists during his long innings as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, will spend close to two hours at the Spacecraft Control Centre at Isro’s and Command Network (ISTRAC) facility.
Mr Modi will watch every manoeuver beginning with the reorientation of the orbiter a few minutes before 7 am, to switching on the motor onboard for about 25 minutes to reduce its speed, and waiting for the confirmation a couple of minutes after 8 am that Mangalyaan has been guided into its orbit around Mars. Mr Modi will then move around to meet all key members of Mars Orbiter Mission (MoM), and address the Isro team as he did after witnessing the launch of five foreign satellites by PSLV on June 30.
Scientists said that Mr Modi’s presence would certainly perk up the morale of space scientists, participating in India’s biggest involvement in inter-planetary exploration. Mr Modi is an avid space buff. Prof. U. R. Rao, former chairman of Isro, who has been invited to view these crucial operations, said Mr. Modi often turned to scientists at Space Applications Centre , Ahmedabad, for inputs and images beamed by remote sensing satellites while planning developmental activities in Gujarat.
