Statio Shiv Shakti or Shiv Shakti Point is the landing site of

Chandrayaan-3 Chandrayaan-3 (, ; ) is a planned third lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Following Chandrayaan-2, where a last-minute glitch in the soft landing guidance software led to the failure of the lander's ...

, the third lunar mission of

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman of ...

(ISRO). The mission's lander ''Vikram'' and rover ''

Pragyan Pragyan, NIT Trichy is the technical festival of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. Since its inception in 2005, it has been held every year over a period of three and a half days during the months of January, February, or ...

'' landed 600 km from the

south pole of the Moon The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon, at 90°S. It is of special interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region features craters that are ...

on 23 August 2023. The landing site was named on 26 August 2023 at the ISTRAC headquarters in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, after India became the fourth nation to make a successful soft landing on the Moon and also becoming the first country that landed on the lunar south pole. Statio Shiv Shakti is located at the coordinates and lies between the lunar craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N. It has been proposed that the upcoming sample-return mission

Chandrayaan-4 The Lunar Polar Exploration mission (LUPEX), also known as Chandrayaan-4, is a robotic lunar mission concept by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that would send a lunar rover and lander t ...

also land near the point.

Name

The name ''Shiv Shakti'' is derived from the names of Hindu deities

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

, who is also associated with the Moon, and

Shakti In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and rep ...

, the divine feminine energy, who is often depicted as the consort of Shiva.

Announcement

The name was announced by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

on August 26, 2023 while meeting ISRO scientists in Bangalore. Prime Minister Modi noted that the selection of "Shiva-Shakti" was based on concept of "Shiva" as humanity's determination and "Shakti" as the capability to actualize these humanitarian ambitions, while further noting that "Shakti" is also a tribute to the women scientists. On 19 March 2024, the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Statio Shiv Shakti for the landing site of Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander.

Reaction

The naming of the landing site as "Shiv Shakti" drew criticism from certain sections of opposition political parties as the site was named after Hindu deities. However the government countered the criticisms by stating that the hard landing site of Chandrayaan-1 was named after India's first prime minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

. ISRO chairman

S. Somanath Sreedhara Panicker Somanath (born July 1963) is an Indian aerospace engineer serving as the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Somanath also served as the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapura ...

said that there is no need for controversy over the naming as governments are allowed to name sites on lunar surface and that there have been precedents of names being assigned to lunar features. "It's not the first time such name has been given. Indian names are already there. We have a Sarabhai Crater on the Moon. Each country can give their names. Naming is a tradition. There is no controversy over the matter," he said. Former ISRO chairman

G Madhavan Nair G. Madhavan Nair (born 31 October 1943) is an Indian space scientist and a former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, and Secretary to the Department of Space, Government of India. He has also been the Chairman of the Space ...

also echoed this and said that the whole controversy was completely based on 'misinterpretation'. He said 'shakti' refers to the 'force' that is behind the creation of this universe. "Our pandits and rishis named it Shiva. Our Puranas gave it a form as people could not understand the concept of the force, and that is how the human form and Kailasa all came. It is a different matter. This underlying principle is known as 'shakti' and we do not have to attribute religious motives to it" he concluded.

References

Notes

External links