ISRO i.e. Indian Space Research Organization Chairman S Somnath said on Tuesday that ISRO had recently conducted a study to find out whether the money invested in the space agency has provided any benefit to the society or not. He had reached Karnataka Residential Educational Institute Society KREIS, where he interacted with the students.
On a question during the dialogue session, he said that the study found that for every rupee spent on ISRO, the society got back Rs 2.50. The session was organized by the Department of Social Welfare and Department of Science and Technology, Government of Karnataka.
According to Somnath, ‘ISRO’s aim is to serve the country instead of getting involved in the fight for supremacy with countries active in the space sector.
To do this, ISRO needs freedom to do whatever it wants to do. He said that this freedom can be achieved by creating an ecosystem for business opportunities in space technology.
Somnath said, ‘Moon related missions are very expensive. And we cannot rely solely on the government for funding.
We have to create business opportunities. If you want to keep it going, you have to prove its worth. Otherwise, when we do something, the government will ask us to stop it.
He also emphasized that ISRO does much more than space exploration.
In response to another question, Somnath gave examples of ISRO projects which directly benefit people.
“Take, for example, the advisory we issue to fishermen,” he said. Our advice helps them know where the best places to fish are.
We use Oceansat to assess the ocean condition and issue advisories after studying various parameters.
By using this service, fishermen are not only able to catch more fish, but they are also able to save a lot of diesel required for boats.
When asked about the things that influenced his life, Somnath said that his teachers played a very important role in guiding him.
He talked about his Physics teacher Rajappa and Mathematics teacher Paul, who helped him a lot in not only scoring good marks but also in getting a good grip on the subject.
Somnath said he will always be grateful to his Class 10 teacher Bhageerathiamma, who first told him about IIT and who believed that he would one day become an engineer.
He urged students to use failures as stepping stones.
The ISRO chief referred to its first space project – the launch of the PSLV Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in the 1990s – which had failed due to altitude control problems.
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