Space odessey of india

India became the fourth country to land on the moon and the first to reach Moon’s southern polar region on 23rd August 2023. To commemorate this landmark achievement, Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modiji announced August 23 as "National Space Day". India celebrated its first National Space Day with the theme "Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India's Space Saga."

The celebration of National Space Day is aimed at demonstrating India's commitment to advancing its space program and inspiring future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)

Science and technology is all about innovation, discovery and research. Any country that has made advances in prosperity has invariably depended on Science and Technology. England became a world power; it was because of the industrial revolution. U.S became a superpower, it was primarily because of its technology.

Indian economy under British rule, just before independence, was abysmally small with a GDP growth rate of 0.85% (less than 1% ). Today, our GDP growth rate is 7.0%. One of the factors for this remarkable growth was our proactive application of science & technology and insatiable quest of our scientists and technologists in building the nation.

Indian scientists and technologists have made significant contributions in certain areas of national priority, given the resources allocated for science and technology. Our scientists and technologists have placed us at the forefront of the world in certain chosen areas. India is designing, developing and launching world-class communication and remote sensing satellites. These communication satellites have brought out a sea-change in our communication networks.

Now, one can communicate from anywhere to anywhere at any point of time. Even from the remotest villages in the country, one can communicate to any place in the world. Day in and day out we are enjoying TV broadcast, the comfort of mobile communications, data connectivity and internet through the satellites that we have launched. Our space scientists have designed and launched our own navigation satellite system, IRNSS. Today, our satellites form our country’s neural network. We process and use our own voluminous satellite data for mind-boggling applications. Imagine what would have happened if we were still dependent on other countries for communications, remote sensing etc.,

In India, data is provided at a rate less than 20 paise per GB, which is the cheapest in the world. This data connectivity and availability at a very low cost came handy for on-line classes during the COVID pandemic. Otherwise, the pandemic would have delayed the learning process of several crores of students of the country.

India has launched a mission to moon – Chandrayaan – and it is an exciting story. One of the defining moments in India has been the roaring successful launch of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan. The Mars Orbiter Mission has paved a new global pathway for interplanetary travel.

Launch of heavy payload of 6 tonnes comprising 36 satellites by ISRO on 23rd October 2022 exemplifies Atmanirbhartha, self-reliance. ISRO successfully launched Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) on 16th August 2024. Salient features of SSLV are low cost, low turn abound time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, satellites with low mission life, launch on demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements etc. SSLV has several applications of launching small satellites for different sectors such as banking, defense, remote sensing etc.

Now, we are planning Gaganyaan, sending humanoids to space. What drives the Team ISRO for such quantum leaps? It is belief in themselves; it is team excellence; it is the learning from the past missions both failures and successes; it is the sublime combination of the wisdom of elders and innovative power of younger generation; it is preparedness for all imaginable scenarios; it is transformational leadership at all levels.

All these accomplishments were achieved by Indians trained in India. More than 95% of the scientists and engineers of ISRO got their education and training in universities and normal engineering colleges.

Today, India is a world leader in space programmes. The world is looking at India with admiration and expectations that we will contribute to solving global issues plaguing mankind, such as clean energy, water remediation, clean environment and sustainable growth.

The societal expectations from science and technology are increasing. Thus, the scientific community has the responsibility to live with these expectations. Of course, we need to make Indian science & technology more vibrant.

In the inaugural address of the Indian Science Congress held at Bangalore, in Jan 2020, the Hon’ble Prime Minister emphatically mentioned, “Innovate, Patent, Produce and Prosper”. He firmly believes that our future will be secure and our global leadership will sustain, only when we produce the next generation of world class scientists, technologists and innovators.

India has a large human resource with intellectual skills. About 65 crores of Indians are below the age of 25 years. This is the biggest asset to the country. No other nation in the world has that many young people. These young people are the strength of our country. This young generation knows that they can achieve things which were not even dreamt of by their fathers and forefathers. These young people must transform the country through science and technology.

We realise that these youngsters are the valuable asset of the country and also asset of the world. World needs highly skilled manpower and India only can provide to the world. The hon’ble Prime Minister firmly believes that our future will be secure and our global leadership will sustain, only when we produce the next generation of world class scientists, technologists and innovators.

Universities are viewed as creators of new knowledge, innovative ideas, providers of skilled manpower, agents for social changes, symbols of international attention and prestige. During the last ten years, the Government of India has launched several important national missions: Chandrayaan-3, Gaganyaan, Deep Ocean Mission, National Green Hydrogen Mission, National Quantum Mission, National Semiconductor Mission, Anusandhan National Research Foundation. Deep Ocean Mission and Space Exploration have opened new frontiers for economic growth. Science & Technology advancements in India over the past decade have laid the foundations for country’s progress and development for the future. India is seeing unprecedented and remarkable growth in its scientific advancements. India has plans to accelerate its growth and establish India as a global power house in science & technology.

With all these technological advances, India of the next 25 years will be very different from what it is. These new and emerging technologies will provide abundant opportunities to the younger generation which earlier generations did not have. Now, it is India’s turn. All of us know that our time has come. I am very confident that our time has come and India is all set to regain its due place in the comity of nations.

You follow your passion and you will be successful in your chosen career.

(Writer is Executive Director (Research), SRM Group of Institutions, Chennai)