Search!

Web envkerala.blogspot.com

Thursday, July 29, 2010

India a role model in space activities

Thrissur: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan has said that India is a role model for other countries in applications of space technology.He was delivering the keynote address at a programme here on Tuesday to mark the diamond jubilee of B.Sc. Physics course and golden jubilee of the M.Sc. Physics course of the St. Thomas College.

“In many areas of space research, India ranks second or third. India is among the top six countries that build world-class satellites. With the launch of Cartosat-2B, India has 10 active remote sensing satellites in space. India has built about 30 satellites for other countries. With its technological capabilities, it has set a benchmark for other countries,” he said. He observed that the Indian space science programme was guided by the Nehruvian vision that science should be used for poverty alleviation and social welfare.“With its applications in monitoring climate and natural resources, space technology contributes to decentralised planning.” He urged universities and colleges to associate with the ISRO in student projects. “To create more space scientists, the ISRO supports space science promotion activities in select universities and colleges. Youthsat, a microsatellite to study space weather, built by students from universities in India and Moscow, will be launched in a forthcoming flight of PSLV,” he said.

He stated that Chandrayan-2 mission, scheduled for 2013, would throw light on the origin and evolution of moon using instruments on an orbiter and through an in situ analysis of samples collected by a rover put on the lunar surface. He said he was touched to be invited to lecture at a college where his father had studied. “My father studied here in the early 1930s. He grew up in this college.”

Auxiliary Bishop Mar Raphael Thattil, former college principal Devassy Panthallukkaran and P. C. Thomas, former professor with the college, also spoke.

Source: Hindu,28-7-2010

No comments: