Date:12/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/12/stories/2008121253840400.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Space science is for common man: ISRO chief

Special Correspondent

Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

Honoured: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and his Cabinet colleagues share the dais with the Chandrayaan-I team at a government-sponsored felicitation function in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. —

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair has said the fishermen can now be told exactly in which part of the sea they should go to get boatloads of fish.

The ISRO has developed a methodology to locate fish schools by reading sea surface temperature and analysing the ocean colour through satellite remote sensing, he said here on Thursday.

He was delivering the endowment lecture in the name of the late Prof. C. Karunakaran, the founder of the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), a leading science institution of the State government.

Mr. Madhavan Nair referred to this methodology to explain how space science could positively influence the life of the common man in the country.

He said India’s space programme had been discussed so exhaustively in the media in the wake of the success of the moon mission Chandrayaan-I that there was greater public awareness now on what it meant to the common man.

He said the moon mission taken up under the space programme had taken only three per cent of ISRO’s budget for the last four years. Nearly 85 per cent of the budget was spent solely on applications that directly impacted the lives of the common man. He touched upon several applications now available for helping in economic planning, healthcare services, education, nature conservation and weather and disaster forecast.

He said the need now was to go for ‘web-based information system’ so that the applications were fully utilised by the people of the country. ISRO would shortly put in place an IRS Image Portal called ‘BHUVAN’ and an information portal called ‘BHU-SAMPADA’ for this.

“Integrated with application-specific Spatial Decision Support tools, these will open up a new era for use of space images and spatial information for development efforts in the country,” Mr. Madhavan Nair said. He also shared with the audience his ideas on how space science applications could be used to address Kerala-specific development issues. The State gave a rousing reception to Mr. Madhavan Nair and the leaders of Chandrayaan-I mission during the day, taking them through a cavalcade of programmes in the capital city to laud their achievement.

Besides the CESS programme, they attended separate receptions organised by the State government, the Industrial Forum of Thiruvananthapuram and the School of Bhagavad Gita.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy, several Ministers, top politicians, high officials, industry leaders, heads of local science institutions and spiritual leaders shared the platform with the team at these programmes.

Schools and colleges in the city and suburbs sent their teachers and students to the programmes. They took out a procession from the Museum Ground to the University Senate Hall one kilometre away in honour of the Chandrayaan-I team. And, at all the four programmes, there was unending applause as the team members were given ‘ponnadas’ and mementos.

The Chandrayaan-I team leaders present to receive the honours included K. Radhakrishnan, P.S. Veeraraghavan, T.K. Alex, M.C. Dathan, M.K.G. Nair, George Koshy, S. Ramakrishnan, Bhaskaranarayana, V. Adimurthy, H.N. Madhusudhana, C. Venugopal, M. Annadurai and A.S. Kiran Kumar.