Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan said that space debris should be cleaned up, so that it won’t pose a threat to future missions. “Managing space debris is key to sustainability in outer space. India is one of the top players in space research in the world. So the next question that comes up is, where the country stands on space sustainability,” said the Governor, while formally inaugurating the World Space Week-2022 organised by ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, in association with Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning here on Wednesday.
“With the recent inauguration of the headquarters of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (In-SPACe), one can expect an increased role of the private sector in India’s space activities,” he pointed out. “The main theme of sustainability is to achieve success in all fields of space technology — space transportation, exploration, human space flight, mitigation of space debris and so on,” observed the Governor.
“It gives me immense pleasure to mention that the ISRO has initiated the ‘Project NETRA’ to monitor the space debris. The domestic surveillance system would provide first-hand information on the status of debris, which would aid further planning on protecting space assets,” told the students and invitees.
“To provide in-orbit servicing, the ISRO is also developing a docking experiment called ‘SPADEX’ - something like docking a satellite on an existing satellite, offering support in re-fuelling and other in-orbit services, while enhancing the capability of a satellite,” the Governor explained.
Explaining the magnitude of the problem, he said that about 10,000 satellites were sent into space world over, and of them only 2,000 were active.
Tracing the journey of the ISRO from Thumba and remembering the doyens of space research, Mr. Biswabhushan said the launch capacity of the ISRO has grown by leaps and bounds and some of the shining examples are GSLV MARK-III, Chandrayan and Gaganyan Missions. He congratulated A. Rajarajan, Director, SDSC SHAR for leading a team of the world’s finest scientists in space research and reminded them that nowadays, our human progress is highly connected with the advancement of space science.
Those who attended the programme included Sri Sathya Sai Trust Managing Trustee R.J. Ratnakar, K. Chakravarthi, SSSIHL Chancellor, District Collector P. Basant Kumar.
