S Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), clarified on Sunday that there existed no controversy regarding the naming of the landing site of India's Chandrayaan-3 mission on the moon as 'Shiv Shakti.' He said that the nation holds the right to assign names to locations.
Following a visit to the Sree Pournamikavu Temple for prayers, he conveyed to reporters that science and faith are distinct realms and should not be intertwined.
"Several other countries had put their names on the moon and it has always been the prerogative of the nation concerned," Somanath said.
"India is the first country to land its rover on the south pole of the moon. The surface is very tricky with mounts and valleys and even a minor calculation error would lead to the lander failing in the mission," the ISRO chief went on to add.
On his temple visit, he said, "I am an explorer. I explore the Moon. I explore the inner space. So it's a part of the journey of my life to explore both science and spirituality. So I visit many temples and I read many scriptures. So try to find the meaning of our existence and our journey in this cosmos. So it's a part of the culture that we are all built to explore, find out the inner self as well as outer self. So for the outer, I do science, for the inner I come to temples."
Somanath mentioned that the images captured by the rover will require some time to reach ISRO's stations. He also mentioned that ISRO has reached out to ground stations in the US, the UK, and Australia to assist in this endeavor.
Additionally, he revealed that preparations for a mission to the Sun have been completed, and the date of the launch will be disclosed shortly. Following the triumphant launch of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission on August 23, the head of ISRO arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
