Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh announced here today that India’s Space Mission to Moon, “Chandrayaan-II”, will take place in 2018, most likely in the first quarter of the year.
Addressing the inaugural session of the 5-day Asian Conference on Remote Sensing beginning today, Dr Jitendra Singh said that India has today emerged as the world’s frontline nation in the field of Space Technology. This, he said, is in itself a glorious vindication of the dream seen by the founding fathers of India’s Space Programme, like Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan, and is testified by the evident fact that India has today taken over even those nations which started their Space Programmes several decades earlier than us, but are today looking forward for cues and inputs from us. In this regard, he cited the example of the Space Mission to Moon and recalled that even though USA was the first to land a man, Neil Armstrong, on the surface of Moon, but it is India which, for the first time, discovered and informed the world about the presence of water on the surface of Moon.
Giving credit to the Modi Government for giving fresh impetus to Space Research, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was during the last three years that India could launch a South Asian Satellite which would be also providing inputs and benefits to the surrounding countries. In addition, he said, the biggest achievement in the last over three years is that the Prime Minister personally intervened to arrange a brain-storming of Space Scientists with each of the different Ministries and Departments in Government of India to promote the application of Space Technology in infrastructure and development works. In this context, he referred to widespread application of Space Technology in carrying out the Urban Development programmes, including Smart City programmes, the use of Space Technology for geo-tagging of MnREGA and the assistance from ISRO for the manning of Railway crossings.
Dr Kiran Kumar, Chairman ISRO, who was the guest of honour on the occasion, spoke about the various achievements of India’s Space capability in the field of Disaster Management. Veteran Space Scientist and President of the Indian Association of Remote Sensing, Dr Shailesh Nayak also spoke on the occasion. At the event, awards were presented to outstanding Space scientists under different categories. The 5-day conference is being attended by over 500 eminent foreign delegates and some of the world’s most distinguished faculty in the field of Space Science.
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