Indian names shining brighter in space

Scientists at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad have found three previously unknown craters on the surface of Mars. They named one of them Lal Crater in honour of Prof Devendra Lal who served as the director of PRL. Other two were named Mursan and Hilsa after towns in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar respectively.

A terrain mapping camera on board the orbiter of Chandrayaan-2 lunar module captured a crater which was named after Indian scientist Sisir Kumar Mitra, who was the founder of ionospheric science and radio technology.

The impact site of Chandrayaan 1 is named Jawahar point in honor of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. India's first mission to the Moon, was launched on October 22, 2008 from Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.

The impact site of Chandrayaan 2's Vikram lander is named Tiranga Point. Chandrayaan 2 was the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation launched on July 22, 2019.

The landing site of Chandrayaan 3 was named Shiv Shakti Point by Prime Minister Modi when the third lunar did a successful soft landing on the lunar surface. He also announced that August 23, the day Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on Moon, will be celebrated as the National Space Day.

International Astronomical Union named the exoplanet HD 86081 in honor of Indian physicist Dr Bibha Chowdhuri, who had worked with renowned Indian scientists Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai in the field of Physics.