Indian Space mission is on track: ISRO Chief

Hyderabad, April 28 (INN): India is the only country in the world to achieve the feat of having a large number of satellites, said A.S. Kirankumar, Chairman, Indian Space Research organization (ISRO). These include, FSS, BSS, MSS tele-medicine, tele-education etc., and within a year from now, five more communication satellites will be launched which are significant for the country. He recalls the success story of the launch of PSLV C-37 with injection of 104 satellites at once.

Addressing participants at the Tagore Auditorium in Osmania University premises, on 'India in space,' he said, India has got its own GPS system for navigation called NavIC (Navigation Indian Constellation). It has sent seven satellites into space named IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigational System).

Giving an overview, he pointed out that the space programmes are of different types. Firstly, space applications which are used to launch navigation and meteorological payloads. Secondly, Space transportation for launch vehicles like PSLV, GSLV, reusable LV etc., Thirdly, capacity building and lastly infrastructure.

The GSLV-mark III is a satellite ISRO is planning to launch next month which has a capacity of 4 tonne said chairman of ISRO. He was instrumental in the making of Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan, he said

To ensure safety, enroute planning, precision landing both ISRO and the Indian Government made GAGAN (GPS aided geo augmented navigation) mandatory for all aircrafts by 2019. Using Bhuvan, ISRO does Geo tagging to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (MGNREGA) assets, he disclosed

Giving a historical account, he revealed that the first sounding rocket was launched on 23 November 1963 from the TERLS (Thumba equatorial research launching station). Upgradation of technology led to the introduction of satellite launching vehicles in 1980. A total of 149 missions have been launched out of which 87 satellites were put in orbit. ISRO has the credit of launching 180 satellites of 23 different countries, he said

India has 4000 heritage sites for which ISRO plans to make an inventory and site management plan. The website http://mosdac.gov.in hosts weather services including cloud bursts and heavy rain alerts, genesis of tropical cyclones in the Indian ocean along with track and intensity prediction and three hourly weather forecasts for the next seventy two hours.

He also emphasized on National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad) will launch start ups on 15 May 2017 to inculcate interest in the minds of the young generation about space

Following the lecture, Kiran Kumar inaugurated the Advanced GNSS Research Laboratory at the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,UCE,OU. The laboratory is being sponsored by the Space Applications Center,ISRO. A.S. Kiran Kumar here once again congratulated the University on its Centenary celebrations and when questioned, noted that the best thing about being a part of ISRO is that each and every day there are working towards helping the common man of this country in some way.