Assam Son Chayan Dutta at the Helm of Chandrayaan-3 Mission Launch Control

GUWAHATI: As the countdown for the lift-off of Chandrayaan- 3 started on Thursday, the scientific community is Assam is agog with excitement at the assignment of Assam boy, young scientist Chayan Dutta, as the Deputy Project Director for the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

This has also led to exhilaration among the public in his home town of North Lakhimpur.

Chayan Dutta will be at the helm of affairs at the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s launch control operations.

Chayan has been entrusted with a major responsibility for the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India’s third lunar mission which is due for launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on July 14.

Chayan Dutta is an alumnus of the Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Tezpur University and North Lakhimpur College (Autonomous). Presently, he is working as a Scientist/Engineer-G at UR Rao Satellite Centre, under the Department of Space.

As Deputy Project Director, he is also in charge of the On Board Command Telemetry, Data Handling & Storage System, and Lander of Chandrayan-3.

He will be responsible for the Command and Data Handling subsystem, which is said to be the ‘brains’ of the orbiter and controls all spacecraft functions.

Regarded as a brilliant student since his school days, Chayan, hailing from Gopi Nagar Colony of North Lakhimpur is now the apple of people’s eyes here.

His father Ranjit Kumar Dutta, expressed his elation at the elevation of his son to such a responsible position, for a guy who is very simple and unassuming. Dutta further added that Chayan was without a television at his home and had asked him to avoid making phone calls till the mission was over. Chayan’s father appealed to everyone in the state to wish for the success of the Chandrayaan-3, and that of his son along with it.

Chandrayaan-3, set for lift-off at 2:35 pm on July 14, will be a follow-up mission to the Chandrayaan-2, which had crash-landed in September 2019 due to a software glitch. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath on Monday said the space agency has opted for a failure-based design in Chandrayaan-3 instead of the success-based design used in Chandrayaan-2. This design is focused on what all can go wrong and how to protect it in such an event and ensure a successful landing.

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