ISRO, which recently achieved a feat by launching 20 satellites at one go, is now planning to launch a 4-tonne satellite by year-end, said ISRO Chairman Shri Kiran Kumar. A distinguished scientist (Apex) and Director, Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, Shir Kumar assumed the office of Secretary, Department of Space, Chairman, Space Commission and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on January 14, 2015. He shared his views a range of issues with Organiser correspondent R Guruprasad. Excerpts:
Recently, ISRO has been in news for good reasons? Please explain about the mandate and functioning of ISRO for our readers.
Many may believe that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is confined only to launching satellites but in fact is also contributing enormous into nation building. Yes, that is an important part of ISRO’s mandate and as part of that from Lunar Exploration Program to recent launching of 20 satellites in one go is a magnificent journey. But we function beyond satellites. Improving quality of life for common people through technology is our core concern. Earlier, information was to be passed on from horse riders to telegraph but today, we can't even imagine how close one person is to another as far as communication is concerned. Earlier, thousands of people would die of cyclones but today the losses have been practically reduced as we have been able to predict at the earliest and alert the stakeholders. We have been able to provide specific information so that corrective action can be initiated. We are using space as infrastructure and linking the country via communication, providing timely information on various issues. Satellites are just means in achieving this larger goal.
Can you elucidate success of Mangalyaan?
ISRO’s ambitious Mangalyaan project is about to complete in two years. We have received a number of data which we didn't know before. There have been new studies related to dust storm. The Mass spectrometer of Mangalyaan has been making a lot of unique observations. Chandrayaan 1 has already proved that how Indian missions are special. Even today Chandrayaan had the credit of discovering water molecules and processes responsible for such formation.
How ISRO was successful with launching of 20 satellites at one go?
In its 36th flight (PSLV-C34), ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 727.5 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite along with 19 co-passenger satellites on June 22, 2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This was the 35th consecutively successful mission of PSLV and the fourteenth in its ‘XL’ configuration. The imagery sent by the Cartosat-2 series satellite will be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, precision study, change detection to bring out geographical and manmade features and various other Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications. Of the 19 co-passenger satellites carried by PSLV-C34, two – SATHYABAMASAT weighing 1.5 kg and SWAYAM weighing 1 kg – are University/Academic institute satellites and were built with the involvement of students from Sathyabama University, Chennai and College Of Engineering, Pune, respectively. The remaining 17 co-passenger satellites were international customer satellites. The total number of satellites launched by India’s workhorse launch vehicle PSLV has reached 113, of which 39 are Indian and the remaining 74 from abroad.
What is ISRO’s role in country’s economic growth?
India is a vibrant and culturally diverse country linked by vast geography and history. The evidence of country’s historic accomplishments remains visible in architecture, heritage sites and traditions that are still visited, venerated and practiced. Some of these heritage sites receive enormous global and national attention. However, many of these heritage sites face increasing risk from urbanisation & economic development. The conservation of world heritage sites, ancient monuments and archaeological sites is of national importance and also helps in development and promotion of tourism, which is one of the major engines of economic growth. ISRO in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Culture has taken up a project to conserve and manage thousands of heritage sites and monuments of national importance spread across in the country.
ISRO’s primary objective is to cater to the specific uses of the country. However, ISRO also offers select services for commercial operations. Many American and German companies are using the facility.
ISRO is also helping the start-ups, isn’t it?
ISRO is in the process of setting up a new start-up incubator at Hyderabad where the infrastructure and data can be offered to budding entrepreneurs. It will also be a way to throw challenge as to how these entrepreneurs can come up with newer ways of using the enormous data which is with ISRO that can be put into right use. The centre is likely to start functioning by this year-end.
How ISRO’s efforts will help common man?
Another important area is Space Based Information Support for Decentralised Planning (SIS-DP) project which has been initiated by National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of ISRO under the aegis of National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) and is being jointly executed by National Remote Sensing Centre and State Remote Sensing Centres of the country. The goal of the project is to empower the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and the Stakeholders with Space Based Information Support for Decentralised Planning and Governance in the country. This will provide ‘Satellite Image Maps’ for the entire country as base for decentralised planning. It will also help in preparing thematic and base layers on 1:10000 scale using ‘Satellite Image Maps’, slope classes maps and cadastral maps vectorisation & geo-referencing. It will also create databank: comprising of ‘Satellite Image Maps’, thematic and base maps, slope class maps; and organize census data, climate data, cadastral maps, stakeholder’s data and available legacy thematic & base data on GIS platform.
ISRO’s initiatives have been saving the exchequer. For example, the government saves up to Rs 20,000 crore each year as ISRO helps fishermen find the catchment areas and improve the catch. So, ISRO can offer expertise from national crop forecasting centre to weather information and navigation to monitoring activities. In general, ISRO is providing tools for nation building at various levels.
The relationship between Science and religion is always a matter discussion in India. What are your views on this?
Science and religion are two different issues. I strongly believe that religion is a very personal thing. Basically, all actions of human beings are driven by sub-conscious mind. So, there is nothing like what is right or wrong. As for as a launch is concerned, we ensure that all set of things are right or not. However, when it comes to religion, it is a very personal thing which we follow from our heart.
What are ISRO’s future projects?
Today, we have launched a situation where in we have geared up for one launch every month. We are in the process of increasing our capacity so that we can launch more satellites. ISRO, not only by us but globally recognised as a number one agency in putting space technology to practical use. Today, ISRO is able to launch a 2.2 tonne capacity satellite and we are working to launch a 4-tonne capacity satellite by end of the year. We have self sufficiency our own navigation system and only a very few countries in the world are part of this elite club.
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