Mangaluru : Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan on Wednesday said the successful Mars Obiter Mission (MOM), besides proving many things about India, kindled the interest in science as an activity among lakhs of students and youngsters.

Delivering the 91st Founders’ Day lecture of the Karnataka Bank here on ‘Indian Space Mission: Challenges and Lessons’, Mr. Radhakrishan said students across the country witnessed the successful placing of the spacecraft in the Mars orbit on September 24, 2014.

The Facebook page created by ISRO after MOM was announced on October 22, 2013, had received 9 lakh ‘likes,’ the majority being from persons aged between 18 and 25.

Deriving similarities in work culture between Karnataka Bank and ISRO, Mr. Radhakrishnan said both believed in passing on knowledge and wisdom to the next generation.

MOM’s success was a result of teamwork of more than 16,000 people belonging to five to six generations. The space missions conceptualised from the time of U.R. Rao in 1975 continued to grow and witnessed tremendous development after the year 2000.

While K. Kasturirangan said the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle could take spacecraft to the Moon, G. Madhavan Nair proved it in 2008 (4 lakh km) and now ISRO had taken the spacecraft to Mars (400 million km), he said.

Teamwork, transparency and good leadership qualities drive an organisation ahead, he said. When ISRO was doubtful of successfully firing a rocket on MOM’s spacecraft to reduce its speed on reaching Mars’s orbit and conveyed it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 23, Mr. Modi told Mr. Radhakrishnan that he would be there the next day, be it a success or failure.

The line between ‘national fame’ and ‘national shame’ was very thin and ISRO was highly conscious of criticisms on spending Rs. 450 crore on the mission, he said.

“On failure, we find out the reasons and not point fingers at someone, and on success, we introspect how the performance could have been improved,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

ISRO, he said, hardly celebrated success, except the cryogenic GSLV launch in January 2014 and MOM in September 2014.

The focus always had been improving common man’s life, which has seen considerable change in the last 25 years.

Bank Chairman Ananthakrishna said Karnataka Bank had withstood several turbulences in the last 90 years because of the strong foundation by the founders and cooperation by the management, customers and shareholders. CEO and Managing Director P. Jayaram Bhat said the bank would increase the number of branches to 675 by March.