The Hindu : Karnataka News : ISRO wants colleges, varsities to help in moon studies

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

ISRO wants colleges, varsities to help in moon studies

By Our Staff Reporter

The ISRO Chairman, G. Madhavan Nair (second from left); M. Vijayan, biotechnologist, Indian Institute of Science (left); K.S. Narasimhan, Principal, MES Degree College; and Prabhavathi B.G., Principal, MES PU College, at the inauguration of the celeb ration of the International Year of Physics at MES College in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE, FEB. 1. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to invite colleges and universities in the country to help with observation studies for its Chandrayan-I and ASTROSAT missions.

The ISRO Chairman, G. Madhavan Nair, believes this will help rekindle interest in science among youngsters. Delivering the keynote address on `Initiatives in Space Science' at the M.E.S. College of Arts, Commerce and Science in Malleswaram here on Tuesday, Dr. Nair said: "Universities can book observation time on these missions and come up with theories."

Year of Physics

The programme commemorated the International Year of Physics and the 100th year of three scientific papers — on Brownian Motion, Photoelectric Effect and the Special Theory of Relativity — by Albert Einstein.

Dr. Nair later told reporters that ISRO would set up a committee to examine proposals sent by interested colleges. He has on earlier occasions said that the space agency will allocate 10 per cent of its budget to support projects by young scientists to encourage them to choose careers in science and technology. He said Chandrayan-I, to take off by the end of 2007 or early 2008, will scan the surface features of the moon and also prospect for minerals and traces of water. There were other lunar missions, but "much is still unknown about mineralogy, the terrain and the Helium-3 present there. We want to find out if Helium-3 can be exploited as a fuel for the future."

He said one tonne of Helium-3 can provide the nation's energy needs for a year. "The Chinese, Japanese and the European Community also plan missions with the same aim. We hope to be in the forefront," he said.

Second mission

ASTROSAT, the agency's second major mission, is meant to study galaxies and black holes. Scheduled for launch around 2007-08, the satellite will act as an observatory about 600 to 700 km above the atmosphere. ASTROSAT, it is hoped, will detect the radiation that galaxies, stars and black holes emit in various spectral bands. Dr. Nair has earlier said that the satellite, estimated to cost Rs. 180 crores, will be launched aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

M. Vijayan, biotechnologist at the Indian Institute of Science here, spoke on `Physics and its influence on science as a whole." As a trained physicist who chose to work in biological crystallography and molecular biophysics, he gave a fresh perspective on the subject. "Physics impinges on everything, that is one of its great aspects. Besides, physics itself is going through a very exciting phase," he said. New areas such as cosmology are now in the forefront. "Cosmology looks at the frontiers of the universe, which, in effect, means that you are looking at the beginnings of time," he said.

Every branch of science, be it chemistry or biology, stems in part from physics. "Chemistry is essentially applied physics while modern biology has been shaped by physicists," he added.

Narasimhaiah mourned

T.T. Srinivasan, Head of the Department of Physics, M.E.S. College, was present. All of them mourned the death here on Monday of the eminent educationist H. Narasimhaiah.

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