CHENNAI: It is not only Tamil Nadu’s sons of the soil – former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Chandrayaan-2 Mission Director Mayilsamy Annadurai, and Chandrayaan-3 Project Director Veeramuthuvel P-who have contributed to ISRO missions, but literally the state’s soil itself.

Since 2012, Namakkal has supplied soil to ISRO for testing the Chandrayaan Mission capability, as the earth here is similar to that of the lunar surface.

This has enabled ISRO to test and refine the ability of the lander module to soft land on the surface of the Moon, given that the properties of the Namakkal soil are similar.

So, if Chandrayaan-3’s lander module achieves its objective of successfully soft landing on the Moon, it would give Tamil Nadu an extra reason to cheer.

This is the third time that Tamil Nadu has supplied the necessary soil to the Bengaluru headquartered space agency for performing the tests for its ambitious Moon missions. According to the Director of Geology Department of Periyar University, Professor S Anbazhagan, the soil was available in abundance in the Namakkal.