Indian space programmes touches 1.3 billion people

Visakhapatnam: Indian space programmes and applications in the last six decades have touched 1.3 billion people of India directly or indirectly thus serving the country as per the aspirations of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, observed distinguished Indian aerospace scientist and engineer, Padma Bhushan recipient, Padma Shri Awardee and Chancellor of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) Dr BN Suresh here on Tuesday.

Delivering the 11th Dr V Bhujanga Rao Endowment lecture on ‘usage of space technologies for the benefit of common man,’ he stated that the space programme started by the ISRO in the early 60’s made outstanding contribution towards national development.

Organised jointly by GITAM mechanical engineering department and Condition Monitoring Society of India (CMSI), the event saw experts sharing insights into the theme.

Speaking further, Dr Suresh informed that the Indian space department has progressed substantially to build state-of-the-art spacecraft to meet the demands of remote sensing, communication, navigation, disaster management, weather monitoring and many other vital application areas. He mentioned that India has the biggest constellation of active spacecraft in the sky.

The ISRO has commissioned Geo-portal Bhuvan which is serving as a gateway to Indian earth observation. India has established regional navigation with the Indian constellation (NAVIC) and is being used in many specific applications like vehicle location and tracking, in smart phones, real time train information system and satellite-based fishery services, he added. Further, he hoped that the government approved Gaganyaan programme which is slated for launch in the next two to three years will increase the success rate of ISRO.

Distinguished defence scientist and former DRDO Director General Dr V Bhujanga Rao said that cutting-edge digital technologies like IoT, analytics, mobility, and cloud are playing a key role in industry 5.0, particularly condition monitoring is leading to new business models.

GITAM in-charge Vice-Chancellor Y. Gowtham Rao observed that the Indian Space Research is notably advancing in joint missions with international counterparts and is set to play a global role in shaping the future of international space exploration and utilisation. The Condition Monitoring Society of India (CMSI) president PVS Ganesh Kumar briefed about the CMSI activities and presented the life membership to selected students.

School of Technology Mechanical Engineering Department head V Srinivas, NSTL director Abraham Varghese, among others, attended.