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Prayagraj’s Pride: Sangam City’s Gayatri Malhotra part of ISRO team guiding India’s solar ambition
Gayatri Malhotra, is playing an instrumental role in India’s groundbreaking solar mission, Aditya L-1.
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PRAYAGRAJ Sangam city’s own scientific talent, Gayatri Malhotra, is playing an instrumental role in India’s groundbreaking solar mission, Aditya L-1. The mission, successfully launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the Satish Dhawan Space Research Centre in Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) on Saturday, marks a historic leap for India into the realm of solar exploration.
Aditya-L1 is set to become India’s first-ever space-based observatory dedicated to studying the Sun. Over the next 125 days, as the spacecraft journeys approximately 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, it will eventually be positioned in a Halo orbit around Lagrangian point L1, the closest point to the Sun. Gayatri, in her role as the project manager of the Aditya L-1 control system group, is playing a pivotal role in this crucial endeavour.
Elaborating on the mission, she explained that once Aditya L-1 takes its position in the Halo orbit near the Sun, it will continuously create a total solar eclipse. Positioned at L1, it will offer an unobstructed, uninterrupted view of the Sun. This mission represents a monumental opportunity to examine the innermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere, known as the Corona --a feat that has never been achieved before, as shared by the 45-year-old scientist. Among its many objectives, Aditya L-1 will also capture and transmit images of the Sun for scientific experimentation.
Gayatri Malhotra, an alumna of Allahabad University (AU), hails from the Balrampur House locality of Prayagraj. Her academic brilliance shone early, with her bagging six gold medals during the 1996 convocation ceremony at AU. She secured first position in her BSc, first position in Physics, and first position in Mathematics. Following her BSc, she achieved academic excellence by obtaining a BTech degree in 1999 and an MTech degree in 2002, both from AU, and received gold medals for her outstanding performance in both courses.
Previously, Gayatri’s involvement in the Chandrayaan-3 mission showcased her unwavering dedication to space exploration. Her late father, Ashok Tandon, served as a Jal Nigam engineer, and her mother, the late Pramila Tandon, held the position of principal at Rajarshi Tandon Girls Degree College. Her elder sister, Richa Tandon, currently serves as an Assistant Professor at SS Khanna Girls Degree College, a constituent college of AU. Meanwhile, her brother, Rishi Tandon, works as an engineer in the United States. Gayatri is married to Rajeev Malhotra, a former ISRO scientist who transitioned to the private sector in 2008. Their family includes a daughter studying at the University of Sheffield, UK, and a son currently in the 11th grade.
Gayatri Malhotra’s remarkable journey from the academic halls of Allahabad University to the cutting-edge space missions of ISRO serves as a beacon of inspiration for future generations, reaffirming that the sky is not the limit when it comes to pursuing dreams.
