space exploration – Artifex.News

Interview | Shubhanshu Shukla on his new book, ‘The Second Orbit’

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 06:15:00 +0000

From the moment he was announced as one of the four astronaut-candidates for India’s maiden human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan, Air Force test pilot Shubhanshu Shukla has been a prolific science communicator. His social media feed is full of amusing yet enlightening quips, videos, and posts about what going to space has been like for him.

In his new book, The Second Orbit, Shukla adds a personal touch. His journey begins from being a boy in Lucknow too paralysed by doubt to enter a handwriting competition and ends — figuratively — with being a man “encased in fire” as he plummeted through the atmosphere. But in between, he goes past the sterile trope of a ‘hero’ to talk about his body’s “quiet mutiny” and the ego-stripping lessons of teamwork. In an email interview, he speaks about why he wrote this book and the bureaucracy of space travel. Edited excerpts:

Why did you write a book?

I believe the journey belonged to everyone, not just to me. I may have been the one strapped into the seat, but the aspiration behind that seat was always a shared story. Second, I wanted to make something very clear to young readers: every great journey begins somewhere ordinary. Mine began in a classroom. I wanted them to know that theirs can too.

You spend a lot of time in your book describing a communication failure during a kayaking exercise in Baja California. In a professional culture that often demands a perfect persona, how did it feel to commit that specific failure to print, and what have you learnt about the relationship between admitting mistakes and building teams?

The kayaking episode is, in many ways, the most important story in the book precisely because it is the most uncomfortable one. Here are highly trained people — people selected through extraordinarily rigorous processes — paddling in the wrong direction. Mistakes are not the opposite of excellence; they are frequently the path to it. And when we pretend otherwise, we do a particular kind of damage to every young person watching, who then concludes that their own stumbles are evidence of inadequacy rather than evidence of being human. I wanted to put that failure in print so that someone, somewhere, reads it and feels just a little less alone in their own.

For the millions of Indian students who currently feel ‘average’ or ‘mediocre’ because of their exam scores, how do you hope your story redefines their understanding of what potential actually looks like?

When we are young, we are handed a single ruler and told to measure everything with it — and for many of us, we come up short. I did too. What I want every student who feels ‘average’ to understand is that the trajectory of a life is not determined in a classroom in Class 10 — it is determined by the decision to keep going anyway. Dream big. And never, ever give up.

The book uses wonderful domestic analogies like the “water hat” or the “train on a fixed track” to demystify space. As someone who has spent years in the highly technical worlds of the IAF and ISRO, what was the hardest part about translating the almost spiritual reality of space into a language accessible to people at large?

The hardest part was resisting the temptation to rely on technical language. In professional life, precise terminology protects you. But in a book that is meant to invite people in, that same language becomes a wall. So the challenge was to find the courage to be simple. To trust that a “water hat” or a “train on a fixed track” could carry the weight of an experience that no existing vocabulary was ever really designed to describe. I found that once I committed to that approach, the analogies came more naturally than I expected. Whether they succeed is, of course, for the reader to decide.

You provide a candid account of the body’s “mutiny” in space, from “puffy face syndrome” to the pain of your spine literally stretching. How did experiencing this profound physical vulnerability change your perception of yourself as a pilot?

It humbled me, and I mean that in the best possible sense. As pilots, we are trained to manage our physical environment — to work with the body’s limits, to push through discomfort, to stay sharp when the machine around you is demanding everything you have. But spaceflight introduces a different kind of reckoning. Your spine stretches. Your face puffs. Your sense of direction becomes negotiable. The body, quite simply, was not designed for this — and it lets you know that.

I became more respectful of vulnerability, in myself and in others. The cockpit is not a comfortable place, but it is a familiar one. Space strips away familiarity entirely. And in doing so, it teaches you something that no amount of training can fully prepare you for — that being comfortable with being uncomfortable is not a coping mechanism; it is a way of life.

You have been the most prolific communicator among the Gaganyaan astronaut-candidates. Does the role of being a “conduit for national aspiration” ever feel like a second spacesuit — one that is perhaps heavier or more restrictive than the physical one you wore during launch? How do you maintain your personal interiority when so much of your experience is now part of a public and state-driven narrative?

That is a beautiful and rather precise analogy — and I say that having worn both. The spacesuit, at least, comes off at the end of the day. But I want to be honest: I don’t experience the public role as a burden, because I genuinely believe in what it represents. India’s journey into space is not a government project; it is a civilisational aspiration. Being a small part of how that story is told feels like a privilege.

As for maintaining my interiority — my family does that for me without even trying. And I think that is the most important orbit of all — the one that keeps bringing you back to who you actually are.

What is one thing you encountered in the bureaucracy of international space travel that you think could be improved to make the journey easier for the next generation of Indian astronauts?

What struck me most is how much the bureaucracy of space travel still reflects the geopolitical boundaries of Earth — which is somewhat ironic, given that the moment you actually leave Earth, those boundaries become invisible. I believe the next frontier for space exploration is the cultivation of what I would call an Earth culture: a shared identity and a shared sense of responsibility that transcends national interest. The more we can build that culture into the institutions and frameworks of international space collaboration, the easier the journey becomes for every astronaut, from every country, who comes after us.

Now that you are back on Earth, what’s the one space habit or shift in perspective you find most difficult to let go of?

The shift in scale. When you have looked at Earth from the outside, it becomes very difficult to treat small problems as large ones. I still get unsettled by things, but I now have a different relationship with my own unsettledness. I have learned to let the issue sit for a moment before I react to it — and in that pause, more often than not, the urgency quietly dissolves. Whether that counts as wisdom or detachment, I cannot say. But it has made me calmer.

A striking image in the book is you becoming a “human centrifuge” to get bubbles out of a syringe. Having gone from a student who hated chemistry in Lucknow to a man performing it while suspended sideways on a wall, what would you like the Indian scientific community to understand about the labour of science?

That image still makes me smile — partly because of how absurd it must look, and partly because of how perfectly it captures how science is, at its heart, physical and frequently undignified. The scientific community already understands this labour intimately — they live it every day, in ways that rarely make headlines. What I would gently offer them is this: the next great leap for Indian science will not come from any single institution or any individual discovery. It will come from alignment in the direction of a shared national ambition. We have everything we need. We now need to point it all in the same direction.

mukunth.v@thehindu.co.in

Published – July 13, 2026 11:34 am IST

Source link

IIT Madras researchers on a mission to develop technologies for space exploration

admin — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 07:31:55 +0000

The microgravity tower at IIT Madras, the fourth largest operational facility in the world, installed on the campus in 2017
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

ExTeM, or Extraterrestrial Manufacturing, a centre at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras), found mention in the Prime Minister’s Maan Ki Baat recently. The PM said the researchers were working on technologies that could be developed and used in outer space.

To elaborate, ExTem researchers, who come from various disciplines, are working to develop technologies for future human settlement on the Moon and Mars. Their experiments include tackling challenges of construction infrastructure, 3D printing tools, and extracting materials crucial for sustainable space exploration.

Established under the Institute of Eminence scheme, ExTeM aims to advance India’s space 2.0 initiatives and broaden access to space for diverse industries, including resource extraction, infrastructure development, and pharmaceutical research.

Microgravity drop tower

The researchers are investigating the distinctive benefits of microgravity environments, which allow for the production of superior materials, such as crystal-free optical fibres with advanced properties and higher-quality diamonds, all with potential applications on Earth. Researchers are also studying the behaviour of beneficial microbes in microgravity.

The ExTeM team includes professors and research students from civil engineering, metallurgy, biotechnology, mechanical engineering, and physics working on various areas, including developing construction materials, conducting parabolic flights, creating waterless concrete using Martian soil, strategies to enhance microbial growth, growing better crystals in space using microgravity, welding, and converting lunar soil into metals and ceramics.

At the institute’s microgravity drop tower, the fourth largest operational tower in the world, experiments are done under microgravity conditions as found in outer space (artificial zero gravity), thanks to the work of Amit Kumar, an aerospace engineering professor.

Making in space for space

Institute director V. Kamakoti said as space stations are becoming important for exploratory studies, climate modelling, and enviro-studies, there is much talk about developing settlements on the Moon and Mars. It requires building technologies, which the institute has taken up as ‘Making in space for space’ project.

It involves developing advanced techniques such as 3D printing of components and in-situ resource use to produce essential components, including lunar habitats and spacecraft parts.

ExTeM’s second focus is ‘Making in space for earth’. “An example is the semiconductor crystals grown in space may have fewer defects suitable for next generation chips used in quantum computing. The same principle applies for advanced optical fibres and bioprinting for human implants like artificial hearts. On Earth, printing minute capillaries for the heart is challenging due to self-weight, which can collapse. However, in microgravity, where gravity’s effects are eliminated, printing becomes significantly more achievable,” Mr. Kamakoti explained.

Researchers will harness resources available in outer space, such as lunar regolith and Martian soil, to reduce reliance on earth-based supply chains, significantly lowering costs and payload requirements.

Sathyan Subbiah, coordinator of ExTeM, said the centre was addressing fundamental studies and technology developments. “A battery of microgravity tests is planned in platforms ranging from drop towers to parabolic flights and possibly extending to suborbital flights,” he said.

Published – January 23, 2025 01:01 pm IST

Source link

China launches lunar probe mission to collect samples for first time from far side of moon

admin — Fri, 03 May 2024 11:15:38 +0000

File picture of the lunar lander of the Chang’e-4 probe in a photo taken in 2019.
| Photo Credit: AP

China on May 3 launched a lunar probe mission to collect samples for the first time from the far side of the moon and bring them to Earth for scientific studies.

The Chang’e-6 mission is tasked with collecting and then returning samples from the moon’s far side to Earth — the first endeavour of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration, China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

The lunar probe was carried by a Long March-5 Y8 rocket which blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the coast of China’s southern island province of Hainan.

Chang’e 6 consists of four components: an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a re-entry module, according to a report by the state-run China Daily.

After collecting dust and rocks on the moon, the ascender will transport the samples to the lunar orbiter for transfer to the re-entry module, which will carry them back to Earth.

The CNSA said earlier that the mission is poised to make breakthroughs in key technologies, such as automatic sample collection, take-off and ascent from the far side of the moon. Meanwhile, the probe will carry out scientific exploration of the landing zone.

The CNSA has announced that scientific instruments from France, Italy and the European Space Agency/Sweden will be on board the lander of the Chang’e-6 mission and a Pakistani payload on the orbiter. A major space power, China in the past successfully launched unmanned missions to the moon which included landing a rover. China has also sent a rover to Mars.

Earlier, China announced plans for a manned lunar landing by 2030.

India became the first country to land near the little-explored lunar south pole region last year when its Chandrayaan-3’s lander, carrying the Pragyaan rover successfully landed there.

Source link

Top ISRO Official On Gaganyaan Mission

admin — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 04:22:29 +0000

ISRO has started preparations for unmanned flight tests as part of the Gaganyaan mission. (File)

Tiruchirappalli:

After the successful Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L1 mission, India is now looking at human exploration in space. Chandrayaan-3 project director P Veeramuthuvel, while speaking on the Gaganyaan mission, said that a roadmap is there and the launch will be soon.

Speaking at an event, Mr Veeramuthuvel said, “Soft landing in itself is a technology. India is the fourth country to have that. We mastered that. Then only human exploration is possible. You know Gaganyaan program is coming up. It’s a human exploration program. We have the roadmap and we will have the launch soon.”

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has started preparations for unmanned flight tests as part of the Gaganyaan mission.

A post on the ISRO’s official handle on social media platform X read, “Mission Gaganyaan: ISRO to commence unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission. Preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1), which demonstrates the performance of the Crew Escape System, are underway.”

According to ISRO, the success of this test flight will set the stage for the remaining qualification tests and unmanned missions, leading to the first Gaganyaan mission with Indian astronauts.

The agency in a release regarding the First Crew Module for the Gaganyaan test flight said that the first development flight Test Vehicle (TV-D1) is in the final stages of preparation.

While the rocket itself will be constructed elsewhere, all internal systems for Gaganyaan will be developed in Ahmedabad.

ISRO’s Ahmedabad facility will be responsible for building two critical systems for the Gaganyaan mission- the cabin systems and communication systems.

The cabin will house three seats for astronauts, along with a lighting system and two display screens to monitor various parameters inside the cabin.

Gaganyaan represents India’s first manned space mission, and it aims to send three astronauts into an orbit of 400 km above the Earth’s surface.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Source link