Hassan: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam anticipates the emergence of "an industrial complex on the Moon and the beginning of human habitat at the Mars" in another 50 to 75 years. He was speaking at the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Master Control Facility (MCF) here on Friday.

Mr. Kalam dedicated to the nation INSAT-4B, launched on March 12 from a spaceport in French Guiana. With 12 Ku-band and 12 C-band transponders, the satellite is intended to augment the Direct-to-Home (DTH) television and communication services.

Emphasising the need for international cooperation in deep space exploration to enable space industrialisation, he suggested the creation of a "World Space Council."

Space security

Mr. Kalam also spoke of the importance of space security. "There are more than 800 active satellites in various orbits. The satellite population includes a number of military satellites for communication and reconnaissance. The value and indispensability of mankind's technological assets are so high that protecting these assets and ensuring continuity of services without any impediment and interference is now of paramount importance."

Calling for the creation of Space Satellite Service Stations as a permanent international facility for the in-orbit maintenance of all GEO satellites, he said the MCF, which had successfully handled 20 geostationary satellite missions since its inception in 1982, would be best suited to contribute towards "the design, development and operation of Space Satellite Service Stations."

ISRO's challenges

Mr. Kalam spoke of the challenges being faced by ISRO in providing connectivity to thousands of villages in terms of telecommunication, tele-education, telemedicine and resource management.

"This would need innovative management systems for promoting inter-departmental and inter-State cooperation. A national team involving State and Central governments in a public-private partnership has to operate on mission mode to lead to optimal utilisation of EDUSAT, particularly addressing the critical problem of content generation and committing the stakeholders," he said.

Mr. Kalam presented the ISRO's lifetime achievement award to the former ISRO Chairman, U.R. Rao. It consists of Rs. 20 lakh and a citation.

Five noted scientists — N. Pant, S.C. Gupta, E.V. Chitnis, B.N. Suresh and P.S. Goel — received the Outstanding Achievement Awards consisting of Rs.10 lakh each and citation. The Astronautical Society of India's Aryabhatta Award 2005 was given to P.S. Goel, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi.

The former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Governor T.N. Chaturvedi and ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair spoke.

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