Meet Chandrakanta: From farmer\'s son to key member of Chandrayaan-2

Kolkata: A farmer from Hoogly’s Shibpur village had a son and wanted to name him Suryakanta, but his school teacher advised the farmer to name him Chandrakanta, after the Moon.

It is a mere coincidence that ‘moon child’ Chandrakanta grew up to become a senior scientist of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and is now leading the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which is scheduled for lift-off on Monday afternoon.

Read | Chandrayaan-2: Everything you need to know about India's Moon mission

According to News18 report, Chandrakanta’s father, Kumar said, “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 part of the team that will make this happen.”

Chandrakanta has designed the antenna systems for the Indian satellites and ground stations. He served as project manager, antenna systems, for Chandrayaan-1, GSAT-12 and ASTROSAT.

Presently, he is Deputy Project Director, responsible for the RF system of Chandrayaan-2, and heads the ‘Electromagnetics’ Section of UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC).

He joined ISRO in 2001, and over the years his hard work and dedication has made him a key scientist in this prestigious mission.

His mother who was at a loss of words said: “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.”

Chandrakanta’s younger brother Shashikant is also a scientist — named after the Moon.

The countdown for India’s most ambitious space mission started at 6.43 pm on Sunday and the launch of Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled at 2.43 pm on Monday. Earlier, the launch was scheduled on July 15 but ISRO aborted it due to technical snag.