Perseverance - The NASA Mars Rover, Lands Successfully on Mars. Dr. Swati Mohan’s announcement confirms “Touchdown”.

Perseverance - The NASA Mars Rover, Lands  Successfully on Mars. 

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I am not sure how many Indians were tuned in live on Thursday late night / very early morning Friday, to witness an unprecedented live coverage of the NASA Perseverance landing on the chosen surface of Jezero Crater on Mars. The Perseverance rover has been primarily tasked to find answer to an all-important question that we are confronted with ' Are we alone in the universe’? 

There were millions of people watching live from across the world, history being created by NASA and I was one among those millions, notwithstanding the fact that it was 2.55 AM on Friday - 19th February, when that moment, which everyone was waiting for, arrived to a thunderous applause in the control room in JPL, NASA.  What was even more pleasing was the fact that it was Dr Swati Mohan, the Indian American NASA scientist, who is part of this mission,  who confirmed that the Perseverance rover had landed  on the chosen Martian surface. “Touchdown confirmed! Perseverance is safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the signs of past life,” with these words, Dr Swati, who was so very calm and composed all through her live commentary assignment, made an announcement of the Perseverance touchdown on Mars to the thunderous cheers of her compatriot, who erupted in unison at the NASA’s JPL mission control room in California. Dr Swati Mohan had specially chosen to sport on her forehead that quintessential ‘Bindi’ - a sociocultural trade mark for women in India, a practice which connected her to her roots in India. Therefore it was no wonder that Dr Swati Mohan was all over the print and electronic media in India and so also she was trending on Tweeter for a couple of days. 

The Mars missions have had a special focus last year. Besides NASA, both China and UAE too have launched their mars mission at about the same time as that of NASA in 2020. The UAE Mars mission is very special because it is headed by a lady scientist,  an extraordinary achievement for any gulf country, which is sure to kindle interest in science among the young girl students in the gulf nations. Sarah Al Amiri is an Iranian born lady scientist who migrated to the United Arab Emirates and she is now mantling the all important position of scientist in charge of the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission to Mars. Our neighbour, China too launched their mission to the Martian surface last year. China's Tianwen-1 probe was launched around the same time as that of Perseverance in July 2020. The Chinese mission has sent its first image of the Mars surface, as it prepares to touch down on the Red Planet later this year.

The NASA Perseverance Rover after a 203-day journey, covering a distance of 472 million kilometers from Earth, landed safely very close to the chosen surface of the Mars at the Jezero crater, after carrying out set out maneuvering to guide itself to the chosen landing site. It landed about 1.6 Kms from the planned landing site and this accuracy is something which speaks volumes for the scientific and technological excellence of the untiring scientists and engineers of NASA who had persevered to make this mission a grand success. One such scientist/ engineer who is part of this mission is Dr Swati Mohan. The mission team announced that ‘the rover landed itself flawlessly’. Very soon "Percy," as the spacecraft is affectionately called at the mission control, sent back its first images of the landing site immediately after touchdown, which showed the rover's shadow on the surface of its landing site of Jezero Crater. The Perseverance rover’s goal is to study the site in detail for its past conditions and seek the very signs of ancient life on Mars. Its mission is to identify and collect the most compelling rock core and soil samples, which a future mission could retrieve and bring back to Earth for more detailed study. Perseverance will also test technologies needed for the future human and robotic exploration of Mars.

The landing location, the Jezero crater, is believed to be the best possible scientific site in our entire solar system, which can possibly throw some light on the origin of life in our solar system. It is for this specific reason that NASA chose Jezero crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover. The NASA scientists also believe that the area where the Perseverance has landed was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta. Scientists believe that some 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled over the Jezero crater wall and created a lake and therefore it is hypothesised that the crater may be home to an evidence that water carried clay minerals from the surrounding area into this crater lake. This means that microbial life may have evolved on this wet Martian surface and could have lived in Jezero crater during the period when it had flowing water on its surface. The Perseverance rover has therefore been tasked to collect samples from this surface which will be brought back to the Earth by future NASA missions to search for signs of the early life  remains, which might be found in lakebed or shoreline sediments of the crater. Although the site chosen for the landing of the Perseverance on Mars is very precious from the scientific research point of view, but then for the engineers and scientists of NASA this site for the landing was an arduous task with herculean challenges. Considering the sites significance to the objective of the mission, notwithstanding the challenges for landing on the Jezero crater, NASA has chose this site to land the Perseverance rover.

Over the period the Perseverance rover will collect sample data from this crater, which will be carried back by the future missions to Mars. Collecting the samples and bringing them back to Earth for analysis will be another breathtaking technological achievement of NASA, which it has planned. These samples collected by the Perseverance may reveal the secrets to the ancient life on Mars that existed on this crater some 3 billion years ago. Understanding the origin of the evolution of the cellular lifeforms on the Jezero crater on the Martian surface, the NASA scientists believe, will perhaps help us in understanding the genesis of life on our planet Earth and in a way lead to unravelling the mystery ‘Are we alone in this universe?

An icing on the cake to the live NASA telecast of the Perseverance landing mission event was the presence of an Indian origin NASA Engineer/Scientist, Swati Mohan, who has been working on this project for the past eight years. She was also one of the key commentators from the NASA mission control room. She was at the commentary in those crucial seven minutes of Entry Descent and Touchdown of the Perseverance rover. Dr Swati Mohan has a PhD in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering from MIT. She emigrated to US with her parents from Bangalore, when she was just one year old and was raised in Northern Virginia / Washington DC metro area. My classmate from school, Viju Patil, who too has migrated to the US and settled there, informed me that an Indian origin Kannada speaking lady scientist who works for the JPL - NASA will be one of the commentators. He therefore urged me to watch the program live. Until then I was not inclined to watch the program since it was expected to land around 3AM on 19th early morning (IST). Courtesy  my fried Viju Patil I remained awake to watch the program live and I thoroughly enjoyed the coverage including those immemorial moments when Dr Swati made that historic announcement ‘ touchdown confirmed’. Viju also had given a brief background about Dr Swati and has said that her parents are from Karnataka and that she speaks Kannada at home. Perhaps it was this motivation from my friend, which made me watch this live telecast of Perseverance landing, which I will treasure. 

Dr Swati Mohan, who in one of the interview that she gave post the Perseverance landing said ‘I consider myself American, and I consider myself to be Indian too’, emigrated from India (Bangalore, Karnataka) to the United States with her parents when she was 1 year old. By age 9 Swati was enjoying watching intently ‘Star Trek' programs and she was fascinated by the beautiful depictions of the new regions of the universe that the astronauts were exploring. She therefore envisaged that she wanted to  "find new and beautiful places in the universe."  But then as with most kids she had other dreams too and one of which was to become a paediatrician.  But then when she turned 16 and attended her physics class things changed for her. As luck would have it she had a great teacher in Physics and his way of teaching the subject captivated Swati and she soon realised how application of knowledge of physics in engineering is what leads to space exploration. There was no turning back from then on. She instantly chose "engineering" subject to fulfil her interest in space exploration. She was supported by her parents to pursue subjects of her interest and thus Dr Swati joined for a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University. She then completed her MS and PhD from MIT in Aeronautics/Astronautics and the rest is history which she went onto create while landing the Perseverance rover on Mars. The first call that she made after the landing of the rover on Mars was to her parents - Srinivas and Jyoti Mohan. 

Srinivas and Jyoti Mohan, the proud parents of Swati, were ecstatic that their daughter, Dr Swati Mohan, had just completed her onerous task of guiding the landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. “My parents were the first people I called... They were completely proud and overwhelmed!” she said in the interview. Dr Swati Mohan, is the guidance and controls operations lead for NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission. When asked what prompted her to sport a Bindi, Swati, In the interview to Savita Patel for the Quint, said, “It was  an Appropriate Moment to Dress Up For. I Decided to Wear a Bindi”. She added “ I don’t necessarily wear it every day, but I do wear it when I want to dress appropriately, when being seen by others, to look professional and look nice, to look presentable. I made sure to put it on before I left the house”. Excited about her achievement Swati said ‘I have to say that I was so focused on what I had to do... I made that touch down, and it took a few minutes to sink in after I made the touch down call”. 

Dr Swati Mohan has been a member of the Perseverance Rover mission since the beginning at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. She has also been a part of various other important missions of NASA namely projects Cassini (a mission to Saturn) and GRAIL (a pair of formation flown spacecraft to the Moon). Most importantly she has worked on the terrain relative mapping, which is a specialty for the Perseverance mission. It is this new technology, which helped the Perseverance to navigate its landing on the right surface of the Jezero crater.  Apart from being the lead systems engineer during the development process of this technology, she has also looked after the team and schedules the mission control staffing.

When Dr Swati announced the confirmation of the Perseverance rover touch down on Mars she made history. NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is the first space craft to use this new technology - terrain relative navigation system, which Dr Swati was involved in for aiding the rover to assist itself with the Artificial Intelligence to land safely on Mars. As the guidance, navigation, and control operations lead, she was involved in developing and executing the new system. Perseverance is the first space craft to integrate this new technology in its flight. The terrain navigation system has a new sensor that consists of a camera and a second brain. Swati explains how this system functioned “ While Perseverance was on the para-shoot and decelerating, the camera took pictures of Mars. The second brain had preloaded images of Mars from earlier missions. The camera images are compared to the orbital map, to figure out where Perseverance should navigate, just like we compare street signs to a map when we navigate. This allowed for safe target selection — once you know where you are, you can choose where you want to go. Based on pre-entered data, she identified the terrain for safety levels — to avoid sharp, pointy rocks or cliffs. Perseverance could decide where to land, as she was coming down, she had the solution to where she was, where she was going and where she wanted to go. She looked and scanned between two regions and decided to land in a small strip area, in between two features of rocky areas. It was about 2 km south east of the target point- she was well within the landing target area.”

It is truly a momentous occasion that the fantasy like space mission - Perseverance, with an embedded Ingenuity helicopter mission integrated into the mission, worked to the exacting standards of the space mission planning, operation and control, which are rid with monumental challenges that needed tens of hundreds of scientists and engineers to persevere to make it a grand success. The successful landing of Perseverance on the surface of Jezero, encountering those terror 7 minutes’ moments of Entry, Descent and Landing, is that much more creditable considering the Covid pandemic during which this monumental Space mission challenge has been accomplished. 

The NASA Perseverance rover, which landed successfully on the Martian surface, has been designed with the key scientific and technological objectives of exploring geologically diverse landing site on Mars, assess ancient habitability, seek signs of ancient life, particularly in special rocks known to preserve signs of life over time, Gather rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth by a future NASA mission and to demonstrate the technology for future robotic and human exploration. Like with most of the space exploration missions, the Perseverance rover is also carrying specialised scientific instruments to conduct unprecedented science and test new technology on the Red Planet. The mission hopes that these scientific and technological tests would immensely benefit NASA in aspiring to send astronauts to Mars. The new technologies which the Perseverance has carried on board include ;

Mastcam-Z - It is an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability with the ability to zoom. The instrument also will determine mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with rover operations.

SuperCam - It is an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy at a distance.

Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) - This is an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and high-resolution imager to map the fine-scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elements than ever before.

Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC)- This is a spectrometer that will provide fine-scale imaging and uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to map mineralogy and organic compounds. SHERLOC will be the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to the surface of Mars and will provide complementary measurements with other instruments in the payload. SHERLOC includes a high-resolution color camera for microscopic imaging of Mars’ surface.

The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) - This is a technology demonstration that will produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide. If successful, MOXIE’s technology could be used by future astronauts on Mars to burn rocket fuel for returning to Earth.

Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) - This contains a set of sensors that will provide measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and dust size and shape.

The Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) - This is a ground penetrating radar that will provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface.

The Perseverance mission created quite a buzz across the world and as expected more than 3.5 million people witnessed Perseverance land on Mars, and the video of Swati’s team celebrating the achievement has gone viral. Dr. Swati has now become a house hold name in India for her achievement. Like most of us in India Swati too likes to watch Bollywood movies. When asked what is  on Swati’s agenda in the coming days? She said “Well, for the next few months, she’s going to be busy analysing data coming in from Mars. She also hopes to finally make the time to watch the Akshay Kumar-Vidya Balan-starrer ‘Mission Mangal’, which heralds the Mars orbiter Mission melodramatic story of ISROs achievement. Swati exhibited that extraordinary sense of calmness and self confidence when enduring and communicating the nail-biting final stages of descent of the Perseverance rover from orbit to the ground, in a sequence, which is termed as “seven minutes of terror” because so many things have to go right in this final stages of the mission to pull it off. During that seven minutes, hundreds of engineers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who have worked on the mission, were standing by to see if nearly a decade of their work pays off. It did pay off off to a thunderous applause of not just those engineers and scientists who persevered to make this monumental mission possible but also millions of the online visitors, who had tuned into witness this historic moment.

Long live science, engineering and its accomplishments for the benefit of humanity. 

Jai Vigyan

Images : Courtesy Wikipedia, NASA and tweeter handle of Dr Swati Mohan.

One Year of Covid 19 in India – A Thumbs Down to all those Dooms Day Forecasters for India.

 It was on this day last year -  30th January, 2020, that India’s destiny began with COVID 19 pandemic when it first came in contact with a lady patient, who had returned from Wuhan, China and was confirmed to be infected with Covid 19 by National Institute of Virology, Pune  on this day last year. 

Images : courtesy - Wikipedia.

This year as I unfurled the National flag, at the Nehru Science Centre, during the auspicious occasion of the 72nd Republic day – 26th Jan,  2021, I briefly addressed my colleagues and dealt into the bye gone tumultuous Covid pandemic year, which has adversely effected the globe including India and our centre. Incidentally it was on the 25th January, 2020, five days before India came in contact with Covid 19, that I had written a blog on the Novel Corona Virus (nCOV2) and this was the beginning of at least another four blogs on this subject. Most news headlines across the world, including India, had front paged the news of the novel Corona Virus (nCoV), in January 2020 and had forecasted that this would rampage the world, which it did most unfortunately and continues to do so even today. The fear of the virus and its spread was heralded to be so severe that the Chinese Government had restricted the movement of nearly 40 million people and an unprecedented and indefinite lockdown had been imposed in 13 cities in central China, aimed at arresting the spread of this virus. But then there is also credible evidence to suggest that the Chinese were late to pass on this information to the world community, particularly the World Health Organisation (WHO), which was informed only on 31st December. Had the Chinese been more honest and transparent, perhaps the world would have been a far better place with far fewer deaths. But then expecting transparency and fair play from the Chinese is almost an impossibility, which India has been witness to since early days, the example of which was seen during the 1962 China war and even recently during the Galway Valley treacherous encounter, the outcome of which has its adverse effect even today.

Immediately after being alerted of the Covid pandemic, the WHO realizing the severity of the spread of this epidemic declared it to be a health emergency in China and just stopped from calling it a global epidemic. Had the Chinese been more forthcoming, perhaps the WHO could have declared it a global epidemic much earlier, which would have given more time for the world to be prepared to face this Pandemic. However that was not to be. The virus, which originated in the city of Wuhan in China was no longer confined to China and it started spreading quite rapidly to other countries, since millions had travelled to and out of China by the time the Chinese had sounded the WHO. In this process the Covid also travelled to India and touched Kerala through one of the lady medical student who returned back to India from Wuhan China. As stated earlier she was confirmed Covid positive on 30th January 2020.

This 20 year-old lady who returned to India from China reported at the Emergency Department of the General Hospital, Thrissur, Kerala, with a history of dry cough and sore throat, on 27th January 2020. She did not have any history of fever, rhinitis or shortness of breath, telltale symptoms of Covid 19. However, the authorities had learnt that she had returned to Kerala from Wuhan city, China, on January 23, 2020 and therefore the health authorities were concerned that she may have been  asymptomatic between January 23 and 26. On the morning of 27th January 2020, she felt a mild sore throat and dry cough and therefore reported to the hospital for checkup. She did not give a history of contact with a person suspected or confirmed with COVID-19 infection. She also stated that  she had not visited the Wuhan Seafood Wholesale Market – the epicenter from where the Covid spread. However, she gave a history of travel from Wuhan to Kunming by train where she had noticed people with respiratory symptoms in railway station and train. The Thrissur General Hospital, recorded that she was afebrile with a pulse rate of 82/min, blood pressure 130/80 mmHg, temperature 98.5°F and oxygen saturation at 96 per cent and that the patient was breathing ambient air. The doctors also noted that the lung auscultation revealed normal breath sounds with no adventitious sounds. Notwithstanding all these normal health conditions, in view of her travel history from Wuhan, the district rapid response team decided to admit her in an isolation room, which was designated for the corona patients. An oropharyngeal swab was obtained from her and this sample was sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), a well established CSIR laboratory in Pune, along with her blood samples, for the detection of viral respiratory pathogens, on January 27, 2020. The NIV, Pune, used real time reverse transcription PCR method of testing and confirmed on the 30th January last year -2020, that the patient suffered from Covid 19. Thus on this day -30th Jan 2020, that she was tested positive for Covid. This India officially came in contact with Covid 19, through this lady patient who had returned to Kerala - India from the Wuhan province in China. Her oropharyngeal swab result was officially reported by the NIV, Pune, to the District Control Cell, Kerala on January 30, 2020 as positive for COVID-19 infection.

Therefore today is the first anniversary of Covid 19 case in India and in this tumultuous year which has passed by, it is time to look back at the bygone year. We can notice that amidst the huge tribulations that we had to endeavor during this tumultuous year, we can also feel a sense of triumph as well, particularly when we notice that the situation seems to be improving and the doubling rate in Mumbai as reflected in the news headline today is now 557 days as against a week earlier. Moreover we have now dropped down to the fourth position in terms of number of deaths from the second position, which we had climbed to. Considering our extremely high population density, particularly in the metropolitan cities, and so also our relatively poor health infrastructure and sanitation we must realise that we have definitely fared better than even the developed nations. We must also not forget that there were several so called experts who had forecasted a definite doomsday predictions for India and predicted that hundreds of millions of people will be contracted with Covid 19 and millions will die from Covid in India. Fortunately that dooms day predictions have not happened in India and for that we must stand in reverence and salute our front line health workers, our scientists, police and other civic agencies, and so also our political leadership - cutting across states and political parties, who, notwithstanding their utterly divided polity and ideologies, have worked together to take control of the situation. Hopefully the current situation will help us in the coming year to turn around our economy, which has adversely impacted most lives in India, particularly those in the bottom of the ladder - the labour force who bore the brunt of the Covid 19 pandemic with millions loosing jobs and livelihood. The government, all states and the central government, must be credited for handling the Covid pandemic situation fairly well.

 

Today - on the occasion of the first anniversary of Covid 19 pandemic in India, when we look back and see what its adverse impact has been we notice that Covid has literally rampaged most parts of the world with the number of Corona confirmed cases crossing 100 million and deaths hovering at 2.2 millions. When we analyse the world data and compare how India stands against the world average, we will notice that we have fared better and for that we must complement all those Covid warriors, health workers and others who have strived hard for achieving. Credit must also go to all of us - the citizens of India who have endeared all the pains and tribulations of lockdowns and such other difficulties, while combating the pandemic. A look at the worldometers.info, reveals that the total number of Covid cases in the world today stand at 102,628,625 cases and the number of deaths are 2216285 and the total cases per million population is 13,166 and deaths per million population is 284.3. When we compare these world numbers with that of India and other countries, which have faced deaths in excess of 50000, the data reveals that India has fared better than other countries and this must give a big thumbs down to all those dooms day predictors and naysayers for India, who had predicted dooms days forecast for India. Here are the numbers for comparison.

India now stands fourth,  in terms of number of deaths from Covid, behind US, Brazil and Mexico, a climb down from the second position, which it was hogging for a long time. From those early days when India was severely criticised for poor testing we have managed to overcome all those odds and our Covid tests now stand at a respectable 1,40,562 per million and this number is higher than most countries and fares better than Brazil, Iran and South Africa. These numbers must also be seen in the context of huge population - 130+ crore population of our country. A look at confirmed Covid cases per million shows that India has around 7734/ million population confirmed Covid cases as against US -79825, Brazil -43727, UK -55407, Spain - 60525, France - 48250 and Italy -41865. Comparison of data of deaths per million population also show that we have fared relatively better in comparison with even the well developed and better equipped health infrastructure countries. Indian deaths per million population is around 111 / million as against US -1347, UK-1533, Brazil -1044, France -1157, Spain -1247, Italy -1454, Germany -680 and South Africa -730. 

Mumbai, which faced a huge challenge in the initial stages, and even today the state of Maharashtra stands second only to Kerala in the new numbers, is now inching back to normalcy with the doubling data reaching 557 days as against a week earlier. The city of Mumbai has managed to control the pandemic against all the odds and for that we at the Nehru Science Centre also have played a small contributory role. When the pandemic started raising its fangs by spreading rapidly and was in the process of overrunning the health infrastructure preparedness of the city, Dr Lakdawalla thought of an innovative way of creating a jumbo Covid facilities in some of the public places and one such place used for creating the Jumbo Covid centre, very early on into the pandemic times, was our centre. There was a 200 plus Covid bed facilities created in our campus in our temporary exhibition space for emergency preparedness for handling Covid pandemic. Similarly any more such innovative methods were used across the country to combat Covid 19. With all such great innovations and outstandingly well coordinated measures between the health workers and administration the city has managed to over come the major health crisis, which was predicted for Mumbai. There was even a dooms days prediction which many naysayers envisaged for Mumbai, which fortunately and with the untiring efforts of health workers, has been avoided. 

Today when two of the vaccines, which are made in India, have rolled out and India has started the vaccination drive across the country beginning with the health workers, we can feel a sense of relaxation. But then we must not forget those deadly haunting thoughts which were forewarned and dooms days predicted for the city by many people. Although we have managed to prove those naysayers wrong, we must continue to abide by the Covid protocols and not let our guard down. We must continue to maintain that physical distancing and wear our masks and maintain health hygiene and use those sanitisers to keep us safe from the Covid pandemic and also enrol ourselves in the vaccination program as and when it becomes available for us. We must also abide by all the other procedures and protocols prescribed by the government. It is only then that we can pat our backs and join hands with our health workers and the government to completely eliminate the Covid pandemic from India. Let us all look back and see what those early dooms day predictions were for India and how we have all collectively proved those naysayers wrong and have made them bite  the dust and given them a big thumbs down.

Some where around end of March 2020 just when we went into the first stringent lockdown, I vividly remember that several international media and some of the so called health experts and commentators had predicted one of the worst dooms day for India. One of the headlines in The Wire dated 19th March, 2020, read ‘Watch: 'India Could Be Next Coronavirus Hotspot, in Worst Case up to 60% Indians Could Be Infected',  They quoted Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan, Director of the Washington-based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy. Incidentally Dr Ramanan was all over the news in India and was interviewed by many leading journalists in India which included Dr Karan Thapar, Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, NDTV and others. These media quoted Dr Ramanan and some other self-proclaimed epidemiologists and their so called statistical models to forecast that tens of millions of people in India will die and many more will be affected by the Covid pandemic in less than a year. This dooms day scare was unfortunately given traction by some of the media who kept playing these interviews and wrote about them. This news further accentuated the already existing fear among the people and made it that much more difficult for health workers and other Covid warriors to tackle the situation. Fortunately India managed the situation very well. From preparing for the huge quantity of required face masks to PPE kits, to sanitisers, to preparing adequate health infrastructure, Covid testing kits, medicines and such other medical aids, India rose up to the situation. Amidst the difficulties of lockdown and non availability of public  transport, the Internet infrastructure and our online preparedness came in very handy. Work from home was very effectively implemented and most emergency workers who were to ensure that these facilities worked efficiently did not fail us. Scientists, technologists,  industry and all others extended their support so as to collectively overcome our hardship. 

We not only helped ourselves but also helped other countries too. During Covid pandemic one could see that India was a nation which supplied maximum amount of pharmaceutical drugs like the paracetamol chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine (HCQL drugs to the world. The supply of Malarial drugs from India were questioned since among others who asked for these drugs was Trump. The Lancet too fell prey to this and published a paper against the chloroquine and hcql based on suspect data which they had to retract publicly. In a way the Covid handling in India and its success became political, which I feel is unwarranted. India has also pledged free vaccines and is transporting vaccines in large quantity to most of our neighbouring countries and including Brazil who has welcomed this gesture by comparing it to the mythical Sanjeevini which was carried by Lord Hanuman.  In that sense we have not only managed to pass through this tumultuous times but have also helped the world community in this testing times. 

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Covid in India let us earnestly hope that it dies down much before it reaches its second anniversary, not just in India but globally as well.

Jai Hind 

Vintage, 90+ years old, Electric Railway Engine Restored to its Pristine Condition @ Nehru Science Centre.

The Mumbai suburban Rail transport (central, western and harbor line) is inextricably linked to most Mumbaikars, for whom Rail is their lifeline. The EMU ( Electric Multiple Unit) services are a house hold name in Mumbai. Every day more than 2000 plus train services (EMU) are commissioned to carry millions of Mumbaikars to their destinations. But then has any one ever wondered when did it all begin? Well the electric rail transport started on February 3, 1925, when the the Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) introduced the first electric train (EMU) that ran between Bombay VT ( now CSMT) and Kurla Harbour. It used 1500 volt DC electric supply, which was supplied by the Tata Electric Company, who had set up their first electric power plant in Khopoli, Maharashtra in 1915. The first electric train service in Mumbai ran with 4 cars and was flagged off by Sir Leslie Orem Wilson, the then Bombay Governor, on 3rd February, 1925. Very soon, to cater to the burgeoning population of the city eight car rakes were introduced in the year 1927 and an estimated 700 plus people could travel. Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai is privileged to be in possession of one of the earliest electric locomotives, which ran in the city of Bombay (Mumbai) during the period from 1930 to 1960s. This 90 plus years old Electric locomotive engine was donated by the Central Railway to our centre in the year 1979. This majestic locomotive has now been completely restored to its pristine beauty of yesteryears and is awaiting to be rededicated to the people of Mumbai very soon.

Incidentally It was this very electric locomotive which served as an engine to the Deccan Queen express - a super luxurious train - which was started on 1st June 1930.  This train took just 2 hours and 45 minutes from Mumbai to Pune when it was started in 1930.  This was India’s first superfast train, first long-distance electric-hauled train, first vestibuledtrain, the first train to have a lady only car and also the first train to feature a dining car. Incidentally the Deccan Queen express today (12123) takes 3 hours and 15 minutes to travel from Mumbai to Pune

Mumbai (Bombay then), incidentally also has that unique distinction of operating the first passenger train services in India. This train service ran from Mumbai (Bombay then) to Thane on April 16, 1853. Mumbai therefore has that rare honour of witnessing the first steam locomotive train service and so also the first electric locomotive train service in India. It is therefore no wonder that the city of Mumbai has a rich rail history, which is exemplified by the monumental architectural edifice - the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) building. The CSMT building is individually listed as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.  This 19th century majestic building  is now the headquarters of the Central Railway. It was christened originally as the Victoria Terminus (VT), in honour of the then reigning British Queen Victoria, and it continues to be the most famous architectural landmark of Mumbai. The VT building also served as the headquarters of the GIPR, the predecessor of the Indian Railways. Therefore it is really a great honour that  Nehru Science Centre is in proud possession of a electric locomotive engine which belongs to the rich rail heritages of India. This precious artefact was donated by the Central Railway to our centre  in 1979.

 

The founding fathers of the Nehru Science Centre - Dr Saroj Ghose and others, realised the connect of railways to the city of Mumbai and its people and therefore made efforts to collect the Heritage railway locomotives for display in the open air science park. Two important heritage locomotives – one Narrow Gauge Steam Engine & one Electric Locomotive rail engine, were collected for display at our centre. In addition to these two precious collections we also have four other equally precious locomotives – The Steam Lorry/wagon, Electric Tram Car, Horse drawn Tram car and the HF 24 Marut Fighter Aircraft. All these six artefacts were collected in 1979 and they were transported from their respective places to the Science park premises of our centre in December 1979, six years before the opening of the Nehru Science Centre. Ever since these precious locomotives are on public display and have been seen by tens of millions of people who have visited the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai.

This blogpost is dedicated to one of these six locomotives, which is displayed in our science park - the Electric Locomotive Engine, which dates back to 1929/30. This precious electric railway engine, which initially operated under the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) during the British period and subsequently was transferred to the Central Railway, was graciously gifted by the Central Railway to the Nehru Science Centre in 1979. There is an interesting story of how this massive 112 tonne black beauty was transported from the Sion railway yard, on that historic night - 13 December 1979, to the Science Park of our centre. The Times of India, which briefly covered the transport of the engine from Sion to Worli, in its  14th, December, 1979 edition quoted ‘A nearly 50 year old locomotive, stated to be one of the first electric engines in India, will be handed over to the Nehru Science Centre at a ceremony by the Central Railway at 11:00 a.m. on December, 14, 1979’. The report added that ‘the locomotive, weighing a massive 100 plus tonnes, was put on a trailer on the night of 13th December, using a very cumbersome and complicated operations of loading the massive engine on to the trolley of the lorry, for road transportation from Sion railway station to the Science Centre. 

This historic journey of the massive black locomotive began just after midnight on 13th December from Sion.  The electric engine sitting on a special trailer travelled via Bandra, Mahim and Dadar to reach the Science Centre in Worli on the early morning of 14th December, 1979. It travelled in the mid night through  some of the most congested routes in the city. From the Times of India report, which quoted one Mr. N. R. Naidu, an engineer of the Central Railway, we learn that this electric locomotive was one of the oldest railway engines, which was operational in Bombay (Mumbai now). This locomotive after its retirement in the 1960s had been kept at the Kalyan locomotive shed for 15 years and was occasionally used for small jobs, before being gifted to the Nehru Science Centre. The report also adds that the complicated process of the transportation of this engine from Sion station to our centre in Worli was undertaken by a company called National Transport Services and this process was directly over seen by its proprietor Mr. Viay Papriwala. The report also includes the name of driver - Mr Brijal,  who drove the trolley to transport the engine from Sion to Worli. The report ends by stating that Mr Papriwala was perhaps the proudest man when the engine reached the Science Centre the next morning on 14th December, 1979. Another report, which covered this historic journey of the black beauty 

from Sion station to Worli, says that not many people witnessed the transportation of the giant electric engine. It adds  ‘Perhaps only a few pavement-dwellers, who were about to retire for the night, witnessed this unusual drama and will remember it in the days to come’.  The report says ‘All of a sudden they saw a strange sight in the distance, breaking the silence and emptiness of the area, slowly move past them and gradually fade out of sight: a nearly 100 year old railway engine, weighing 112 tonnes, on a trailer’. The report adds that ‘a few passing motorists at night were bewildered, amused and confused when they caught sight of the engine being transported on the trolley. The electric locomotive therefore has a very interesting story of its transportation to our centre.

If the transportation was a challenge so was the preparation that went into loading the locomotive from the Sion Railway shed on to the Lorry. One report which covered the loading of the engine into the trolley, says  ‘Everyday, several men, some bare-bodied and some in vests, sweated it out in the hot sun to lift the engine and place it on the trailer’. Very carefully they put “sleepers” below the loco and gradually lifted it with the help of jacks. Each time it moved up, they felt a sense of relief as though the entire job had, at last, been done. They patted each other and sang songs with a feeling of satisfaction’. The report adds that ‘ hundreds of people watched the drama of the loading of the engine and many of them took photographs’.  Several trains passed by and many of them stopped at Sion station but neither the passengers nor the train staff seemed to know what was happening.  Even in the neighbouring building, the favourite topic of discussion seemed to have been the mysterious drama of the black engine getting loaded onto the trolley.  The loading of the engine on to the trolley took three days and several men worked for more than ten hours a day to complete the task. One report says that at the end of three days they saw the fruit of their endless efforts: the engine was firmly placed on the trailer.  The report, which covered the loading operation says  ‘the workers felt as though they had climbed a peak after several days’.  The loading task was quite tedious since it was for the first time that such a massive Electric railway engine was to be transported by road. From the Central Railway side one Mr. N. R. Naidu supervised this operation. The news paper report says ‘Mr. Naidu said, it was one of the oldest engines and all these days it had been kept at the Kalyan loco shed.  It was “retired”15 years ago, but was occasionally used for small jobs’.

This 90 plus years old engine, which operated between Mumbai and Pune for several years, was one of the prime attractions of the centre for four plus decades. Unfortunately, the humid climatic conditions of Worli had caused severe damage to this black beauty and also to all the other five precious collections. The electric engine was the worst hit. Most of the metallic parts of this electric engine body, was badly rusted and majorly damaged and in several places the body had crumbled into pieces. The pre-restoration images of the locomotive reveal the terrible extent to which this historic electric rail engine was damaged. We were therefore making our best efforts to get this precious artefact restored through a professional agency. We first approached the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC), Lucknow, which is the premier organization for the research in conservation of the cultural property including monuments and sites, as well as museums, library and archive collections. However, the NRLC, although it functions under our Ministry - the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, was unable to take up this specialised work. We then approached the Rail Heritage wing of the Railway Board, through Mr Rajesh Agarwal, who was formerly the Director of National Rail Museum, New Delhi. He referred us to Ms Vinita Srivastava the Executive Director of Railway Heritage, New Delhi. She very kindly helped us to reach the Central Railway (CR) and also wrote a letter of recommendation to the CR. After a series of our interaction with the officials of CR and after a couple of rounds of inspection of the locomotive by the CR engineers and some of their authorised vendors, the CR finally agreed to take the challenge of restoration of this precious electric locomotive. In the meanwhile we had searched some of the old photographs and other records and also researched on this engine and gave all possible reference materials, including old photographs and other research material as reference to the CR engineers so that they could carry out the restoration in the best possible way and in most professional manner. The successful restoration of the engine is a result of cohesive working between our centre, CR and the agency who undertook this task under the supervision of multidisciplinary teams, such as engineers, artists and other experts. All these collective efforts have helped us to restore the electric locomotive Engine to its original beauty. 

Our centre remains open to the public 363 days a year and therefore it was a challenge to restore our precious collections while the centre remained open to public. There was not much of a progress in the restoration of our artefacts until the beginning of the Covid lockdown in March 2020, when our centre was closed to the public. We used the lockdown period of nearly 8 months to majorly restore the electric locomotive and all other five precious collections in our possession. All the six artefacts have now been brought back to their pristine condition and are waiting to be rededicated to the public through a formal opening very soon.  We are quite confident that these restored locomotives will be very popular among our visitors we are also certain that our visitors will line up to take a selfie or two with these yesteryears beauties.

Railway is one of the major legacies, which the British has left behind. The introduction of the railways by the GIPR was primarily for the benefit of the Britishers who built the Railway network in India to help their governance and to establish connectivity between the different regions of India to aid trade, communication and defence and to further their own personal gains. The establishment of the railways helped the British in strengthening their control and exploitation of their colony. The postal system, policing and many other machineries principally depended on the development of railways as the mass mobility system. The railways, as a spin off benefit, helped the native Indians to adapt from the medieval life styles to a modern one and it also laid the foundation for a partial shift from rural to industrial economy. The Genesis for the introduction of railways in India goes back to mid 19th century. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) was incorporated on August 1, 1849 by an Act of the British Parliament. The GIPR soon entered into a formal contract with the East India Company for the construction and operation of an experimental railway line, 56 kms long in Bombay. The main station from which the operation was to begin was Bori Bunder.

The GIPR had a share capital of 50,000 pounds, when it was incorporated. On August 17, 1849 GIPR entered into a formal contract with the East India Company for the construction and operation of an experimental line, 56 kms long. The construction and operation of the first passenger railway in India - 16th April 1853 in Mumbai - received global headlines and attention. A report of the historic first train journey says that large groups of people had gathered along the two sides of the railway track from Bori Bunder to Thane on the inaugural day of the steam engine-driven locomotive. It was almost some kind of a dream for the people to witness a carriage running without harnessing animal or human power. The black beauty steam railway engine appeared like a mythical creature that was spewing out white smoke as it moved ahead at speed,  which was inconceivable at that time. Very soon the the scientific principle of the steam operated machines and its power was understood and the steam power was put to wide use in setting up industries or looms, or even the early road transports like the Steam Waggon and cars that reshaped Bombay’s  geography in those early years.

British engineers received wide acclaim for the Railway line they had constructed and for commissioning of the rail transport in India. The global media hailed their accomplishments of building a railway line in a tropical country like India with varied problems that ranged from snakes and animals to building embankments over difficult stretches. Three decades after the inaugural rail transport in Bombay, the old wooden structure of Bori Bunder was pulled down and replaced with a new station called Bombay Passenger Station. In the meantime the Britishers started a mega plan to construct a massive terminus, which was then christened Victoria Terminus - VT. The construction of the VT station began in 1878 and ten years later, in May 1888, the majestic building of VT (CSMT now) that we see today was completed at a cost of Rs 16, 35, 562. The building was very unique and was something the citizens of Bombay had never seen before. The construction and operation of Railways had proved the engineering skills of British Engineers, which was further exemplified by the construction of the majestic VT building. The VT building was designed by the consulting British architect, Frederick William Stevens. He has to his credit design of some other Gothic Heritage note worthy buildings in Mumbai, which include among others ; the Bombay Municipal Corporation building, the Royal Alfred Sailor’s Home, the Post-Office Mews at Apollo Bunder. The CSMT building continues to be an engineering marvel even to this day. 

The railways also brought about a social revolution in Bombay with scores of workers travelling from different parts of India to Bombay to be a part of the industrial growth, which Bombay was witnessing. The legend of Bombay as a city of textile mills and Indian cinema began with the introduction of Railways, which attracted masses from across the country to the city to work as labours or for leisure. The elegant CSMT building has symbolically represented the cosmopolitan character of the city which witnesses travel of diverse people and ideas. 

Our electric locomotive engine was initially stored at the Kalyan loco shed from where it was shifted to Sion and from there to our centre. The electric loco shed at Kalyan holds a unique record to its name. It is the first electric loco shed of Indian Railways. The Kalyan electric loco shed was established on 28 November 1928 under the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR). The electric loco shed at Kalyan during its journey of the last 93 years has maintained nearly 16 different types of electric locomotives. The loco shed has undertaken a long journey since its formation when it used  to maintain electric locomotives EA/1 and EF/1, which were having horsepower of 2160 HP & 2230 HP respectively in 1928 and operated on 1500 Volts DC. 

The electric locomotive in our collection most likely falls under the category of EA/1, the earliest type of locomotives, and has a horse power of 2160. This locomotive was supplied by the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company and it was intended for high speed service over the same routes as the freight locomotives.  The engine has three pairs of driving wheels, a four-wheel bogie at one end and a pony axle at the other. It had Six 360 Hp, 750 volts DC driving motors that are mounted in tandem pairs over the three driving axles, each pair driving through an intermediate gear to a hollow gear wheel surrounding an axle, but carried in journals mounted on the locomotive frame. The form of drive employed gives relatively high centre of gravity and good balance essential for an easy riding locomotive at high speeds. The body of the locomotive contains a driver's cab at each end, the cabs being connected by a central corridor. Adjoining one of the driving cabs is a compartment containing auxiliary machinery such as vacuum pumps, air reservoirs, brake apparatus, and blowers for main motors. A centre compartment contains the various cam groups, etc., a compartment at the other end holding the resistances and unit switches. The apparatus is mounted on frames placed on either side of the central corridor. All live parts are protected by interlocking doors to prevent access while current is on. 

One can see the two two pantographs that are prominently visible on top of the locomotive. These two pantographs could be operated from either of the drivers cabin. The pantographs are mounted on a shield plate insulated from the pantographs and also from the main roof. The motor combinations in the locomotive were so arranged as to give one-third speed with all six motors in series, two-thirds speed with two circuits of three motors in series, and full speed with three circuits of two motors in series, all with full field.  In addition, a field tapping was also used with any of the three combinations. All these arrangements of the six DC motors, which gave a power of 2160 HP to the locomotive, enabled the locomotive to be driven with a total of six running speeds. The National Rail Museum in New Delhi too has in its collection an electric locomotive whose name plates and the number reveal the series and name used during the British era, while the name plate of our engine shows it to be CR, the engine definitely belongs to the GIPR and perhaps was one of those engines under the series 4000, which after independence and its functioning under the CR was given the number 40024. The restored electric locomotive looks majestic and giving it company is another beauty - a narrow gauge steam engine, which too has been restored to its pristine elegance. Unfortunately due to paucity of funds we have not been able to change the four decades old shed in which these two rail,locomotives have been sheltered. However, we hope that we will either be given funds to change the sheds or renovate them during the next financial year. 

Through this post I appeal all those who are in Mumbai to please do spare some time to visit our centre to have a look at this Electric locomotive which has been completely restored and so also the other precious locomotives. 

Prof SM Chitre - Stalwart of the Indian Astronomy, An Eulogy.

Prof SM Chitre - Stalwart of the Indian Astronomy, A Tribute 

This afternoon I was informed by a friend that Prof. Shashi kumar Madhusudan Chitre (84), one of the very well known scientists closely associated with Science Communication and the one who was even more closely associated with the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai as a member of our EC and so also in several other capacities for many decades, had passed away today 11th Jan, 2021, at the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Mumbai. This tragic news reminded me of the close association of Prof Chitre with our Centre since the inception days and the stellar role that he played during those early years of the making of the Nehru Science Centre, starting with an exhibition on light and sight in 1978 in a temporary shed and then developing, perhaps the worlds first open air science park in 1979. He was also involved in one or the other was in the development of the massive castle like Nehru Science Centre main building - so elegantly designed by the renowned architect late Achyut Kanvinde, and developing for the very first time in India three hands on interactive types of exhibitions on Sound, Light and Sight and a gallery on Science for Children and so also a Vintage car exhibition. Chutre’s association with our centre is as old as the centre itself and he was one of those distinguished scientists who was perhaps present during the opening of the centre by the then PM of India in November, 1985.

Just a few days back - 7th January, 2021, while making a presentation about our Centre to Mr Rajendra Pawar, the Chairman of the Agricultural Development Trust, Baramati and his team, we had used couple of the images of Prof Chitre addressing the students from our auditorium and his ever smiling face is so very fresh in my mind and suddenly the tragic news of his death came as a big blow for me. Prof Chitre’s association continued with our centre for more than four decades. He was one of those galaxy of scientists who turned up at the opening of the Vigyan Samagam exhibition in May 2019. This massive frontiers of mega science exhibition, showcasing international science projects in which India is a partner, was organised by NCSM in collaboration with the Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology.  

The Nehru Science Centre in association with the National Centre for Science Communicators, Mumbai had organised a National Conference on “India in Space and Nuclear Energy: Achievements and Challenges” at our Centre. This mega event was organised as a mark of our respect and tribute to Dr. Vikram A Sarabhai, the father of Indian Space Program and the founder of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at our Centre on his birth centenary. This event was inaugurated by Prof Chitre and some of the images of the event are included in this tribute. Some of the dignitaries present on the occasion included Dr. R. Chidambaram, Former Principal Scientific Advisor to the PM and to the Union Government; Shri A.S. Kiran Kumar, Former Chairman, ISRO; Shri Srikumar Banerjee, Chancellor, Homi Bhabha National Institute; Dr. Ashok Dalwai, CEO, National Rainfed Authority,  Dr. Mallika Sarabhai, daughter of Dr. Vikram A. Sarabhai and others.  I vividly remember that Prof Chitre delivered an outstanding inaugural lecture and spoke of some of the most memorable moments of his association with Dr Sarabhai. He, in his quintessential elegant style, also spoke about how Dr Sarabhai and Dr. Bhabha, kind of a, courted the famous classical Bharatnatyam dancer, Mrinalini at IISC Bangalore and that Sarabhai won this race and went on to marry Mrinalini, who then became Mrinalini Sarabhai. Dr. Mallika Sarabhai, daughter of Mr and Mrs Vikram Sarabhai, who was present in the audience during his lecture was the one who enjoyed this anecdotal rememberance of her father by Prof Chitre, the most. 

I have had so many occasions to meet Dr Chitre on different platforms not just at our Centre but also at other places and his vivacious nature is so very fresh in my mind which will never be removed from my memories. He was one of the members of the Executive Committee of the Nehru Centre Trust, which is chaired by Sharad Pawar Ji and in my capacity as the Director of the Nehru Science Centre I am one of the invites to this meeting, which Prof Chitre attended quite regularly. He always invoked his experience with Nehru Science Centre during these meetings. 

Prof Chitre was an eminent Indian Astronomer who excelled in Solar Physics.  His scientific research was focused on solar physics, astrophysics and gravitational lensing. He is credited with an outstanding research on the Sun's magnetic activity cycle, the solar dynamo theory, and the role of neutrals in the solar atmosphere. Prof Chitre was a classmate of Prof Roger Penrose, who won this years Nobel Prize in Physics, at Cambridge. He served as the faculty member at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research  from 1967 until his retirement in 2001. He was the UGC National Lecturer in Physics during 1975-76 and held several visiting positions both nationally and internationally including the ones at Universities of Cambridge, Princeton, Sussex, Amsterdam, Columbia and Virginia. He was also a MaxPlanck Fellow at the MaxPlanck Institut fur Extraterrestrische Physik, Munich. He was the Senior Research Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA at Goddard Space Flight Centre, NASA. Some of his other acclaims in academics include a Perren Visiting Fellow and a Visiting Professor of Astronomy at Queen Mary and Westfield College of the University of London, during 1992-1993, 1994-1995 and 1997 and a Visiting Professor at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad during 1999-2000. He also was the Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Queen Mary College, University of London, 2001 & 2002 and a Visiting Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge during the Easter terms of 2003-2005 & 2007. 

Prof Chitre was the Raja Ramanna Fellow at the University of Mumbai during 2001-2006. He also served as President of the Astronomical Society of India, Chairman of the Indian National Committee for Astronomy, Chairman of the Bombay Association for Science Education, a member of the Management Boards of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics and the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, a Council Member of the Indian Academy of Sciences Bangalore, the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi and the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, India. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. Prof Chitre was also the Fellow of some of the most eminent societies in India and abroad namely ; Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Sciences, India, Third World Academy of Sciences, Maharashtra Academy of Sciences, Royal Astronomical Society, International Astronomical Union and others. 

Prof Chitre was born on the 7th May, 1936 and graduated in Mathematics from the Elphinstone College Mumbai in 1956. He was awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Scholarship to study abroad and he joined the Peter-house College, University of Cambridge where he completed another bachelor's degree in 1959. In 1960, he was selected as the Peterhouse Scholar, with which he completed his master's degree. Dr Roger Penrose was one of his classmates at Cambridge. Dr Chitre completed his PhD from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics of Cambridge, in 1963. He started his professional working career as a lecturer at the University of Leeds the same year and continued to work there till 1966. It was during this period that Prof Chitre obtained another fellowship to join the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. After completing his fellowship at the prestigious Caltech, Prof Chitre returned back to India In 1967 to join the faculty at the TIFR. He remained with TIFR, where he continued to perused his research in physics and astronomy until his retirement in 2001.

Prof Chitre has received innumerable awards and felicitations including the prestigious Padma Bhushan, award which he received in 2012. Prof Chitre has also served as a member of innumerable committees including the member of the Executive Committee of our Centre. He was also on the board of Nehru Centre trust. He was an extraordinarily committed science communicator and was very passionate about science education. He has delivered number of lectures in our centre and so also in  schools and colleges. Prof Chitre was the voice behind first ever astronomy show in Mumbai's iconic Nehru Planetarium. He was also the former president of Astronomical Society of India and was member of multiple committees in recent decades which shaped India's science policy. Prof Chitre was also a member of the prestigious Tata Sons on their Tata Endowment Fund. 

Prof Chitre had that quintessential look of a scientist and he was admirably loved by school students, who used to throng our Centre for listening to his lectures. I have had the pleasure and have been very lucky to have shared a common platform with Prof Chitre on several occasions both at Nehru Science Centre and so also in other places, whose memory will remain etched in my memory. Today when Prof Chitre has bid us final good bye for his journey to the heavenly abode and as the mortal remains of Prof Chitre have been confined to the holy flame,  his outstanding contribution to Solar physics and astronomy and Science Communication and also to our council and our centre,  will ever be remembered. I join innumerable other scientific fraternity and country men in praying for his noble soul to rest in eternal peace and for his family to be blessed with the strength to bear this irreplaceable loss. 

Om Shanti