The moon man of Punjab

Madan Lal, from Budhlada in Mansa district of Punjab, designed and fabricated the MIP
(Moon Impact Probe) that was recently released on the moon by Chandrayaan-1. The road
to success wasn’t a smooth one for this pioneer, who has played a pivotal role in almost
all missions of ISRO till date, and has carved a niche for himself among top international
scientists, writes Chander Parkash

THE humble and unassuming persona of Madan Lal belies his achievements. Born in the dawn of Independence, this former deputy director of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been a key player in propelling the country into the big league in the field of space research. As a child he listened to the tales of chanda mama while looking with amazement and awe at the brightly shining moon in the sky, little knowing that one day he would design and fabricate the MIP (Moon Impact Probe) that was released on the moon by Chandrayaan-1 in November this year. With this not only did the Indian Tricolour land on the moon, but the country also become the fifth in the world to have done so. Coming from the sleepy Budhlada town in Mansa district, Madan Lal overcame adverse circumstances and financial limitations to make India’s moon mission a reality.

The road to success wasn’t a smooth one for him, as on several nights this aeronautical engineer had to study in the light of a lantern or moon. Interestingly, it was on July 20, 1969, that Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon, and on the very next day (July 21, 1969), Madan Lal joined Asia’s premier space agency—Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)—as an engineer. He worked there for 38 years and became its deputy director.

Madan Lal has played a pivotal role in almost all missions of ISRO till date, including the space capsule recovery experiment, the reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator (RLV-TD), the geo-synchronous launch vehicle (GSLV) and soft landing mission and sounding rockets. He has worked under scientists like the ‘missile man’ and former President of India, Abdul Kalam, and Vikram Sarabhai, who is known as the ‘father of space programmes’.
Not only this, he has rubbed shoulders with top-notch scientists of other developed nations also. He has been to Germany, Russia and Italy in connection with various missions, where he carved a niche for himself among the fraternity of international scientists. But he never gave a thought to the idea of leaving his own motherland to go aboard and to use his talent to make more money.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Madan Lal, who has retired from the ISRO, says: "MIP was dropped on the lunar surface in the first half of November, 2008, by Chandrayaan-1.`A0The mission successfully launched on October 22 this year, is Indiafirst to the moon. It entered its final circular orbit of 100 km around the moon on November 12, 2008."

"During its descent, the camera of the MIP has taken a large number of excellent quality photographs of the moon’s surface. Its mass spectrometer has collected enormous amount of data about the constituents of the moon’s rarified atmosphere. This data, after processing and analysis, may lead to many first time discoveries," he said.

"I had the opportunity to lead the team which designed and developed this probe. The main objectives of the probe were to develop and test the technologies required for precise landing on the moon and to explore the rarified atmosphere of the moon from 100 km to touch down.

Since the probe had to work in hard vacuum and in an environment with extreme temperature variations of +120 degree centigrade to –120 degree centigrade, it posed many challenges. However, the flawless working of all the sub-systems and meeting the set objectives has made my team and me proud of this achievement".

"Its success in the first attempt itself has demonstrated that we have achieved maturity in mission planning, design and execution. This will provide important inputs for the next soft landing mission planned by ISRO," he exclaimed.

He says: "When Neil Armstrong had set foot on the moon, I had wondered whether India would ever achieve such a feat. But as luck would have it, I was chosen to conceive and lead the MIP project. I consider this as the highlight of my career. This achievement has given me immense happiness and satisfaction. I owe this to the hard work and dedication of the team that I led. It is our small contribution to the national pride.

"It was a proud moment for me when I was especially invited to the Space Control Centre, Bangalore, to witness the dropping of the MIP, the creation of my team, on the lunar surface a few weeks ago," he adds.
Speaking about his life and achievements, he said: "I was born in Tapa Mandi at my maternal grandparents’ house at the time of the Partition while the fire of communal riots was raging everywhere in the region. I grew up hearing stories about chanda mama. Looking at the moon at night, I was always fascinated by its beauty, and more so by the dark spots on it. It always appeared so distant and unreachable.

"Over the years and after sending the MIP on the moon, I have understood that it is the nearest heavenly body to earth in our solar system. It needs to be explored so that we can understand the evolution of earth and the solar system. However, the fascination still remains, specially after looking at the pictures taken by the MIP. But it no more appears to be beyond reach. We can have human colonies on the moon one day," he claimed.

With a sense of pride, he says: "Today India is in the league of developed nations as far as space technology is concerned. We are self reliant in launch vehicle and satellite technology to meet our national needs in the most cost-effective manner. The world is envious of our track record. We are on the threshold of making it big in the commercial arena, too. More and more countries are looking forward to having collaboration with India."

When asked about the successive union governments’ response to India’s space programmes, he said funding had never been an issue with ISRO, irrespective of the party in power. All governments have always been enthusiastic in supporting ISRO programmes as the organisation achieved the set goals in the most economic way, and, therefore, it enjoys credibility.

Madan Lal, who has grown up in Mansa district, which was once known for huge consumption of liquor and was called as Asia’s wettest place for the same, has been honoured with team excellence award by ISRO in 2007 for successful accomplishment of the space capsule recovery experiment mission.

HOME