Meet Chandrakanta, The Bengal Farmer’s ‘Moon Child’ Who is Key Researcher of ISRO in Chandrayaan 2 Mission

At the point when Madhusudhan Kumar, a farmer in Hoogly’s Shibpur Village had a child, they wanted to name him Suryakanta. In any case, that was not to be, after a school teacher advised him to name his soon after the moon as Chandrakanta.

Divine intervention or a minor fortuitous event, nobody can say, yet ‘moon child’ Chandrakanta, grew up to become a senior researcher of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and is currently leading the Chandrayaan 2 mission, which is planned for lift-off Monday afternoon.

Despite the fact that the launch of the lunar mission was deferred, the family couldn’t be any progressively glad their child’s accomplishments.

Speaking to News18, Kumar stated, “When the mission was aborted we were sad. But we are prepared to witness India’s most challenging moon mission lift-up. We are extremely proud and happy that our son is a part of the team that will make this happen.”

Chandrakanta has designed the antenna systems for the Indian satellites and ground stations. He filled in as project manager, antenna systems, for Chandrayaan-1, GSAT-12 and ASTROSAT. Presently he is Deputy Project Director, in charge of the RF system of Chandrayaan-2 and heads the ‘Electromagnetics’ Section of UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC).

“I never got the time to teach him as I was busy toiling on the fields,” he said, adding that it was Chandrakanta’s teachers who groomed him well. “He has always been hardworking. He joined ISRO in 2001, and over the years it’s his hard work and dedication that has made him a key scientist in this prestigious mission.”

His mom then again, was at lost words and broke down in happiness. “My son called me in the morning and told me to watch Chandrayaan-2 mission on TV. I am very happy today and proud of my son. Despite all odds, he managed to overcome hurdles and became a scientist,” she said.

Chandrakanta’s more youthful sibling Shashikant is likewise a researcher – named after the moon.

The countdown began at 6.43 PM on Sunday and the launch of Chandrayaan 2 is scheduled at 2.43 PM on Monday. Prior, the launch was planned on July 15 however ISRO prematurely ended it because of technical snag in the launch vehicle.