Indian Space Research Organisation – ISRO Chairman, Dr S Somanath has said that India’s aspirations is to expand its contribution to global space economy to 10 percent in the next 10 years. He said that currently India’s contribution to global space economy is just 2 percent and the country wants to expand it. Dr Somnath was delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial lecture 2024 on “Indian Space Odyssey in Search of New Frontiers” in Akashwani’s Rang Bhawan New Delhi today. The ISRO chief emphasized for increased collaboration from more stakeholders engaged in the space sector. He said that the government has taken several steps to bring reforms in the Space sector. He informed that the Government has launched Indian Space Policy 2023 and liberalized FDI for space sector. He said at present there are over 200 startups in space sector whereras it was only one startup in 2014.
Talking about the progress of indigenization of space sector, Dr Somnath said that India is working towards reducing its import dependency. He said that the success of Chandrayan 3 was a major milestone for India, which was built upon the indigenous capability of the nation. He added that such technologies need to be groomed at home using India’s own knowledge and industries.
Dr Somananth also highlighted that ISRO’s satellites have been helping in other fields including personal communication, broadcast communication, weather prediction and meteorology, internet connectivity, disaster management, navigation and assistance to land and airpot authorities.
Speaking about India’s upcoming space missions, Dr Somanath said that ISRO is planning to launch its first uncrewed mission, Gaganyan, in the coming years.
Prasar Bharati Chairman Navneet Sehgal, Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi, and Director General of Akashvani, Dr. Pragya Paliwal, were also present, among others, at the event.
The Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture is organized by All lndia Radio in the memory of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, a great visionary who had National cohesion uppermost in his mind. It has been an honoured tradition since 1955 and eminent personalities like C. Rajgopalachari, Dr. Zakir Hussain, Moraraji Desai, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, Jayant Narlikar, M.S. Swaminathan, Arun Jaitley, Ajit Doval and S. Jaishankar are among those who have delivered this prestigious memorial lecture in the past on wide ranging subjects on India and its socio-economic strides. The recording of the lecture, is broadcast across the entire network of All lndia Radio at the end of this month, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, now known as the National Unity Day.
