5. What were the challenges faced while setting up the Deep Space Network? The Voyager spacecraft, launched in the 1970s, is still being tracked while being 19 billion kms away.

“Deep Space Network was established by JPL. Ours is called IDSN and was setup right before Chandrayaan was launched. For DSN, the problems must have been acquisition of land at the correct location (separated by 120 degrees of longitude), building those huge antennas with the required precision and the related failproof electronics. Add to that the computational requirements.”

6. How ambitious is ISRO when compared to NASA, ESA, and RosKosmos?

“ISRO is ambitious, but our focus is on indigenous technologies that help the nation actively. Hence, we tend to work more on remote sensing and communication rather than planetary research, although, that too has gathered a lot of momentum in the past few years with Chandrayaan and MOM. We too have a DSN called the IDSN. And we have an astronomy satellite called ASTROSAT in the pipeline. If you look at it, astronomy by itself is very weak in India, compared to US. Being an astronomer, I would say what ISRO is doing for astronomy is more than proportionate.”

7. What are your views on the recent achievement by SpaceX? How is it being seen at ISRO?

“SpaceX’s biggest achievement, besides the reuse capability, is their ability to manufacture things economically both with respect to mass and cost. It is no normal feat to make a 800kN engine with a thrust to weight ratio of over 150. Apart from that, their employees usually handle operations that require knowledge in multiple disciplines. If you compare them to ISRO, there are obviously large differences when you see the finished product. But rocket science is still hard. To meet increasing rocket launch demands, we are working relentlessly, often spending upto 12 hours a day at work and even showing up on Saturdays. The company is slowly starting to resemble more like a startup than a government organisation.

To read more about the questions asked https://www.scoopwhoop.com/in-other-news/isro-scientists-reddit-ama-chandrayaan-3/?ref=home_read%3Fdist%3D5