Mr. Rahul Narayan and Mrs. Sheelika Ravishankar

On 29th September, 2017, Mr. Rahul Narayan and Mrs. Sheelika Ravishankar of TeamIndus (or Fleet Commander and Jedi Master as they candidly put it), addressed the DAIS students, who were introduced to the Google Lunar XPRIZE and the race to the Moon by the pair. The Google Lunar XPRIZE carries a $20 million (Rs. 129 crore) reward for the first privately-funded team that successfully soft-lands a spacecraft on the moon, and manoeuvres a rover for 500 metres on the moon’s surface. The rover must also beam high definition images and videos back to the earth from the lunar surface—a feat not attempted even by the celebrated space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO]. With their launch planned for March-2018, TeamIndus will be the world’s first privately funded Space exploration mission, that too developed entirely out of India.

TeamIndus is one of the five finalists, and the only Indian one competitor, currently in the running for the Lunar XPRIZE. It is in fierce competition with the Israeli team, SpaceIL, to reach the moon’s surface. In fact, it is noteworthy that the rover built by the Japanese finalist Hakuto will be transported to the moon’s surface by TeamIndus’ spacecraft. When asked why he would allow another team’s rover to be transported by his team’s spacecraft, Mr. Narayan had a very progressive answer: “It’s not about us or them, it’s about proving to the world that India can do it.”

Mr. Narayan, and Mrs. Ravishankar made their talk interesting by testing the knowledge of the DAIS community about all things moon-landing-related, bringing up the successful ISRO mission in 2017 during which 104 satellites were launched; a new-world record. Most fascinating, however, was ECA or Ek Chotisi Aasha, the moon rover that TeamIndus built, and had brought with them to share with the DAIS community. As Mrs. Ravishankar so elegantly put it, “ECA will be the first Indian on the moon. She carries the hopes and dreams of a billion Indians, and everybody who wants to be a part of TeamIndus’ mission.”