SHAR to celebrate World Space Week from Oct 4-10

Tirupati: World Space Week is celebrated worldwide during October 4-10 every year to enthuse the international community towards more and more applications of Space Technology for humankind. This is in commemoration of the launch of first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1 in 1957 on October 4 and coinciding with the signing of the treaty in 1967 on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space including the moon and other celestial bodies by a resolution in UNO.

Application of Space Technology for societal needs has brought significant improvements in human lives on this planet 'Earth'. The World Space Week Association has chosen the theme 'Space and Sustainability, focusing on achieving sustainability in space during World Space Week celebrations for this year.

Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, the 'Spaceport of India, one of the lead centres under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is traditionally celebrating the World Space Week with a gamut of public outreach programmes by spreading the activities from Sriharikota to different locations in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Odisha.

Director of SDSC, SHAR A Rajarajan said, this year Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR is continuing with the legacy of celebrations by covering eight selected venues spread across four states, viz., Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Odisha. The celebrations will start with the inauguration at Sriharikota on October4.

Students can make use of the opportunity and witness the Sounding Rocket launches planned on October 10 at Sriharikota. Apart from Space exhibitions planned for the public, competitions like written quiz, drawing, design challenge, extempore speech, etc. are being conducted for students at all the venues as part of the celebrations.

With the involvement of government and private educational institutions, exhibitions, 'Walk for Space Week', lectures and interactions by Senior ISRO scientists/personalities and video displays will be organised during the period. Apart from this, online competitions are also organised for the benefits of students.

The events will be held at various places in Tirupati district, Vizianagaram, Guntur, Puttaparthi, Vellore, Chennai, Karaikal and Cuttack. ISRO scientists/personalities from various fields along with executives from SDSC SHAR will attend the programmes. He said all students and the public can utilise the opportunity and actively participate in the programmes and benefit from this outreach programme of SDSC SHAR, ISRO and Department of Space.