Scientists passionate and dedicated to mission; paid hardly one-fifth of what is given globally: Former ISRO chairman

While ISRO was able to successfully land Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar south pole with a budget amounting to just Rs 613 crore, less than Nolan's interstellar, wages that the scientists receive for working at the national space agency is hardly one-fifth of what is given globally, said Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair.

"The wages paid to the scientists, technicians, and other staff at ISRO are hardly one-fifth of what is given globally. So that gives an advantage," Nair told PTI while talking about the Indian space agency's history of exploring space at very low expenses.

As a result of poor wages, the scientists have to 'find low-cost solutions for space exploration,' said Nair. He added that there are no millionaires among ISRO scientists, and they always live a very normal and subdued life.


"They are not really bothered about the money but are passionate and dedicated to their mission. That is how we achieved greater heights," Nair said.

Nair added that India uses home-grown technology for its space missions, and that helped them reduce the cost considerably. He said the space mission costs of India are 50 to 60 percent lower compared to the space missions of other countries.

The former Chairman is confident about the commercial contracts the country will receive as a result of this successful expedition.

"Certainly the global people will accept our technical competence and quality of our launch system and spacecraft, etc. International cooperation has been on the agenda of the Indian space programme, and it will be strengthened in the days to come," Nair added.

At present, ISRO and NASA are working on a joint satellite mission called NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) for earth science studies. Apart from NASA, ISRO and CNES, France's national agency have completed the feasibility study on realizing an earth observation satellite mission with thermal infrared imager, named TRISHNA, said ISRO.

Nair said the success of Chandrayaan-3 is the first stepping stone to begin India's planetary explorations.

"We have really broken the ice and made a good beginning," he said.

India is now the fourth country to master the technology of soft landing on the Moon after USA, China, and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

(With agency inputs)