Click to play videoIndia planted the Tricolour on the moon on Friday when Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe landed successfully on moon. CNN-IBN spoke with Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to go to space, who said it was a watershed moment in India's space technology. He also said the development opens up interesting vistas and career opportunities for children.
CNN-IBN: From the first Indian in space to the first unmanned mission to the moon in two decades, where do we go from here? Where does ISRO go from here?
Rakesh Sharma: I think there's lot which ISRO is planning on and there's a lot which it’s going to achieve I believe in the coming years and sure the whole world is watching us. I do hope that ISRO is going to do that it has done uptil now and go its own way rather than compete with others. I think ISRO really has shown to everybody that there's more to space than just glamour. Even if you look at new things which they are trying, all of it has a meaning, it is really science with a meaning, science which is going to effect common man. From this point onwards that ISRO is now focussing on exploration, I think again it’s going be very exciting because they are going to end up in finding solutions to the real world problems that we have like solutions to energy problems, environment problems, finding a new materials. I think we are living in exciting times and it’s heart warming to see ISRO is scripting its own future. I am very sure that it'll be successful while it does so.
CNN-IBN: With the Moon Impact Probe on the surface, what are we really hoping to see?
Rakesh Sharma: If you are referring to moon mission or exploration in general, I think what we can look forward to is getting in the immediate future, all the knowledge being required to colonise the moon. And while we are at it, we'll be perfecting the spacecraft and travel system which will be low cost access to space so that humanity can start inhabiting the moon. And once when we are then there, then we look at whether Helium, which is going to solve the energy problems back on earth, we can look at minerals. Also, moon will then become a platform from where these space missions are going to be launched. So there's a lot at stake and as far as ISRO is concerned, they are planning to send an unmanned mission to the sun.
CNN-IBN: In the 60s, the race to space was US and Russia. Now it seems it will be India and China. Why do you think China has chosen to be so critical of our mission?
Rakesh Sharma: I really can’t answer that, what has happened that in the past is that the race was between the Soviet Union and America. It was like ideological in nature. I think we've moved away from those days and today we're looking at space differently. I don't believe that we're going to be ending in the same sort of scenario that China was in its past. At present if China is looking at our Indian success negatively, I believe it probably is for their domestic consumption. Because China still remains a closed society irrespective of the fact that they in a way are integrated and I believe all of this is for their own domestic years.
CNN-IBN: ISRO chose Children’s Day to plant the Tricolor on the moon?- What's the message for our kids?
Rakesh Sharma: I do hope that it’s going to really inspire our children and not only our children, but all those accomplished space scientists working for NASA. It perhaps clicks their imaginations too and tells them that there's similar interesting work happening back home and that sets traffic going in the reverse direction.
As far as kids are concerned, they are very lucky generation, there's a lot going to happen in their lifetimes as they are going to see moon inhabitants! So this really opens up whole array of opportunity to excel in. We're looking at life beyond IT, aviation and you are going to have some exciting career paths, these kids can then choose from.
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