On Wednesday, August 23, 2023, a remarkable event took place at the Lagos State University (LASU) Main Campus in Ojo; it was the Viewing of the successful launch of the Space Shuttle, Chandrayaan 3 on the moon by the Indian nation, On that occasion, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, LASU, Prof. Adenike Omotunde Boyo described LASU as a great institution, not just in Nigeria, but in Africa. CYRIACUS NNAJI reports.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration of the Lagos State University, Prof. Adenike Omotunde Boyo, recently described LASU as a great institution, not just in Nigeria, but in Africa.
Boyo made the disclosure while representing the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Ibiyemi Ibilola Olatunji-Bello, at the viewing of the Launch of space shuttle to the moon by the Indian nation
She said “LASU is a great institution and we are always encouraged to do what is right for the future, not for now, and that is part of the agenda of our Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibiyemi Ibilola Olatunji-Bello, a visionary, that LASU must be in tune with what is happening globally, and like I said, we have Aerospace Engineering, looking forward, they too can put LASU either in the Pluto or Mercury.
“LASU is not only great in Nigeria, we are already great in West Africa, and we are great in Africa, we are moving globally to the moon and that is the motive,” Boyo stated.
On how she felt viewing the launch of the shuttle to the moon, she said “For me personally I landed in the moon, because when it was at a particular velocity I was just apprehensive, because we were already told that the first and the second missions had some challenges, so right inside me I said this one would not be challenged because LASU is also involved. We are here just to view it, and then to inspire us and to have more information of what is going on.”
On reason to invite children to participate in the viewing exercise, Boyo said “The reason is to inspire them; you know we have Aerospace Engineering at Epe and there we have some of our students. It is not only viewed here, it is viewed at Epe and our other campuses so that we can inspire them. Some of them that are studying Aerospace, there is much to do, it is not only to study but we can have some of them shuttle to the moon and come back, and I am sure in the near future it will be so, and we want all these children to know, some of them are always Medicine and Law, that there are other areas to learn, to go into the moon, to go into the sun, or other planets, there is the Pluto to study, there is a lot to do as researchers and we want these children to be involved.”
Prof Boyo also spoke on how Nigeria can benefit from the mission to the moon, “There are benefits, you know that we have Aerospace, I think we tried it once, and I am sure that there are some scientists working on it, like I said, they landed on the south pole of the moon, so maybe we might be the first people to land at the east pole of the moon. It is not impossible for us in Nigeria, and it will come to pass.”
Mahesh Narasimhan, Consul, Consulate General of India said “This is our third; we have done two earlier missions, Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2. Chandrayaan 1, basically there was no mission to land on the moon, it was only to go under orbit of the moon and study the moon. Chandrayaan 2 was on similar mission just like this Chandrayaan 3, we intended to land on the moon, but the last moment, just two minutes before landing we lost contact of the space craft, but this mission was a total success. What we intended we have done it. Now more explorations will be done by a craft which will come out of this shuttle and in few minutes or hours and then it would be hovering on the moon surface for fourteen earth days to get more information on the ice, water and other minerals present on the moon so that we get more information about the moon. This is the south pole of the moon where no country has landed before and this is a big achievement for India.
Speaking on reason for choosing LASU for the viewing of the launch of the shuttle he said, “Lagos State University is one of the great universities which we have in Nigeria and particularly in Lagos, so we have been collaborating with LASU for quite some time; we have MoU with LASU, that is why we have chosen LASU as the place to view this mission.”
While stating that the shuttle was launched on the 23rd of July, 2023, he also said that India is still planning to send another mission to the sun. “Yes we are still working on it, as of now there is no fix time line for that, but definitely we are working on it. As our Prime Minister said we are sending another mission to study the sun also, it doesn’t mean we are landing on the sun but it will be close enough to study more about the sun.”
