Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Self-sufficiency in launch vehicles by 2006

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. May 22. India will indigenise the technology needed to launch satellites in the three tonne-plus category by 2006 or 2007, the director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), B. N. Suresh, has said.

Dr. Suresh was delivering this year's M.R. Kurup memorial lecture organised by the Thiruvananthapuram chapter of the Indian Society for Non-destructive Testing (ISNT), here today.

Now the stress is on launching specialised satellites such as the Edusat and the Healthsat. However, it is true that the nation's communication satellites are being launched from elsewhere; this is one area which mastery over technology is yet to be achieved, he said.

Kerala is one State that is putting satellite technology to good use, especially in the fields of medicine and education. There are plans to link all the medical colleges in the State by satellite and to bring Net connectivity to all schools in the State. The State is also using satellite technology in the areas of agriculture, soil studies, land use studies, landslide studies and in identifying potential fishing zones, he said.

One speciality of the Indian space programme is that it has a well-structured applications programme to benefit the common man. This is specially so in the areas of remote-sensing, communication and meteorology. The situation today is such that the data generated by the country's six remote sensing satellites is being sought even by the United States and the European nations.

Many years ago, there were those who questioned the need for space research. The situation is radically different today thanks to the vision of space stalwarts from Vikram Sarabai to M.R. Kurup, Dr. Suresh added.

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