ISRO’s bogus scientist? Surat youth’s claim of designing Chandrayaan-3 questioned

Following the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3’s lander on the lunar surface, a particular individual hogged the limelight, particularly on social media in Gujarat, after he claimed he played a significant role in the development of Chandrayaan-3 design. This individual, Mitul Trivedi, said he had a crucial role in designing the Chandrayaan-3 that had successfully landed on the moon.

An audio recording of his dialogue with his teacher has also gained widespread attention across social media platforms. However, there are questions and doubts being raised over the authenticity of claims made by him.

Video of Mitul Trivedi claiming to have designed Chandrayaan-3 goes viral, media organisations ru

An audio recording of a discussion between Mitul Trivedi and his teacher surfaced the day after the soft landing of Chandrayaan. In this conversation, both are heard conversing about the mission and its triumphant outcome. Mitul informs his teacher that he is situated at the ISRO centre. During the dialogue, he also asserts that he was the one who formulated the design for Chandrayaan. Mitul conveys to his teacher, “They (presumably ISRO) invited me due to the setback of Chandrayaan-2, some of my contributions hadn’t made it to the lander then… This time I succeeded.” He goes on to describe, “The landing is akin to a helicopter’s descent, with dust swirling around. However, this time there was minimal dust. The world faces challenges in this process, and we exploit these vulnerabilities to achieve success.”

Entering the spotlight, Mitul Trivedi also participated in interviews with multiple news channels. During a conversation with Zee 24 Hour, he expressed, “The weight of India’s entire nation rested upon us, and we pondered how we would confront our fellow citizens if this endeavour did not succeed. There can be no greater source of pride than India’s flag gracing the moon today.” Expanding on this, he added, “We’ve tirelessly worked day and night, without a pause for the last four days, starting from Monday.”

In addition to this, he delved into the modifications implemented in Chandrayaan-3.

Chandrayaan 3 : ચંદ્રયાન-3ની ડિઝાઈનમાં સહભાગી સુરતના મિતુલ ત્રિવેદી સાથે ખાસ વાતચીત #chandrayaan3 #design #mitultrivedi #surat #Chandrayan3 #chandrayaan3 #isro #launching #gujaratfirst #Sriharikota #missionmoon #MissionChandrayaan #CHANDRAYAAN_3 #Chandrayaan3Mission… pic.twitter.com/0pJjiF7gdZ

— Gujarat First (@GujaratFirst) August 24, 2023

In a conversation with another channel, he mentioned that he has now stepped back from Mission Chandrayaan and is dedicating his efforts to the upcoming project Aditya L-1. He also asserted that his design will be incorporated into this new project as well.

Neighbour claims Mitul Trivedi was in his house when the Chandrayaan-3 soft landed on the moon

On the other hand, these claims of Mitul Trivedi have been questioned. A report in the newspaper Sandesh claimed that Trivedi had no evidence or information to join ISRO. According to the report, when asked for proof, he said he could not disclose it saying he was on contract. Another question is that if Mitul was at the ISRO centre at the time of Chandrayaan’s landing (Wednesday evening), then how did he reach Surat the next day? However, Mitul said that he came on a flight from Bangalore in the morning but if the Sandesh report is to be believed, there is no Bangalore-Surat flight at 10 am on Thursday. While one of the residents of the society also told about Mitul being at home on Tuesday-Wednesday, the report added.

The report cited sources from ISRO-Ahmedabad, who stated that an individual named Mitul Trivedi from Surat has no affiliation with ISRO. Furthermore, a professor from SVNIT remarked, “ISRO maintains strict confidentiality, and making public statements like this raises suspicion.”

Additionally, a professor from Surat took to Facebook. Anurag Kadve’s profile asserted that Mitul Trivedi has no ties to ISRO, and the organization maintains a stringent policy regarding employee information, which is only officially accessible. He emphasized that such actions not only discredit genuine scientists but also mislead the public.

On Twitter, a user named Rajesh Modi shared a screenshot of a post from news agency PTI’s former Twitter handle and questioned, “Not a single channel in Gujarat or Surat has removed the video of his interview with Mitul Trivedi, so PTI should explain why they deleted this tweet.” It’s worth noting that PTI had initially shared an interview clip featuring Mitul Trivedi, but it has since been removed.

Dear @PTI_News no news channel in surat – Gujarat has deleted their video of interview with dr Mitul Trivedi of @isro @ISROSpaceflight . Can you help to know any specific reason for removal of interview ! He claimed to be core scientist in designing chandrayan – 3 https://t.co/oZB2ngLdWR pic.twitter.com/GQkgJZ3OWc

— Rajesh Modi (@rajeshhmodi) August 25, 2023

OpIndia also reached out to Mitul Trivedi for his perspective on the entire situation. He mentioned that he is in the process of providing clarification and that updated information will be forthcoming shortly. This article will be revised once their response is received.