The Hindu : Front Page : You can’t put a price tag on moon mission: ISRO

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Friday, Nov 14, 2008
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Front Page

You can’t put a price tag on moon mission: ISRO

T.S. Subramanian

Space technology solving day-to-day problems of man
On a small budget, we mastered cutting-edge technology

CHENNAI: G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation, on Thursday rejected criticism that its Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon was a waste of money. “You just cannot put a price tag” on the mission, he said here.

There were questions from all quarters on the relevance of the moon mission and why the ISRO was wasting money on it. Right from the inception of India’s space programme, “our feet have been on the ground” and space technology had been used to solve the day-to-day problems of man, he said. India’s remote-sensing and communication spacecraft had been used in agriculture, fisheries, town planning, locating water, disaster management, television broadcasting, telemedicine and tele-education.

Mr. Nair was inaugurating a three-day conference on “Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and Applications – 2008,” organised by Sathyabama University and the ISRO.

The ISRO had used only three per cent of its cumulative budget of the last four years on the Chandrayaan-1 mission. Of this, a major portion was spent on building “the world-class” Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu village, near Bangalore, which had two antennas of 32 and 18 metres. They would serve [India’s] interplanetary missions to Mars and Venus. “So we have invested in national infrastructure and developed capability for interplanetary missions…With a minuscule budget, we have shown that we have mastered the cutting-edge technology in space.” Besides, the moon mission motivated the younger generation.

“Herculean task”

Mr. Nair described as “a Herculean task” the steering of Chandrayaan-1 to its final orbit of 100 km above the moon. “I don’t think any other country achieved such a precise orbit in its first attempt itself.” The ISRO achieved the mission with contributions from the academia and industry.

The ISRO was at “a turning point” in its programmes and it was finalising the next phase of its missions. It would continue to provide societal services for national development in remote-sensing and communication.

More than 400 village resource centres had been set up in association with the ISRO, which provided villagers telemedicine and tele-education, including vocational education and information on farming practices.

“While our feet are on the ground, our eyes are on the sky” to understand the mystery of the evolution of the galactic systems, Mr. Nair said.

V. Jayaraman, Director, National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, said low-cost transportation to space had become a pre-requisite. Space commerce attracted industry’s attention.

The conference had attracted about 180 papers on a variety of topics, he said.

A. Bhaskaranarayana, Scientific Secretary to the ISRO, said communication satellites had enriched man’s life with direct-to-home television, high resolution television, interactive television, mobile telephones and broadband Internet.

Jeppiar, Chancellor, Sathyabama University, wanted the ISRO’s help in setting up a space technology cell in the university.

N. Manoharan, Professor and Dean (Postgraduate Studies and Research), sought its help in building mini satellites in the university.

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