Our Space Pride

Five months after the successful launch of the country’s first student satellite christened Anusat, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is all set to launch satellites of foreign universities into space. Next month, along with the main 952-kg indigenous Oceansat-2 satellite, the ISRO will put into orbit six international nano satellites from Germany, Switzerland and Turkey. Among the German satellites, one will carry components for evaluation in the hostile space environment relating especially to the field of communications, while another will be primarily used for technology demonstration. The Turkish student satellite has been developed by the students of the department of aeronautics and astronautics of the Istanbul Technical University and will be used for low resolution imaging, while the one from Switzerland, which is the first entirely built Swiss student satellite, will study ‘‘night glow phenomena’’ while orbiting at an altitude of 700 km. Why the sudden foreign interest in ISRO? Look at the ISRO’s recent track record, such as the historic launch of the country’s first moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, and you will get the answer. The world is gradually beginning to acknowledge India’s space expertise, thanks to the dedication and ingeniousness of the ISRO scientists despite the indifference of the government to their woes, mainly financial. It is time our scientists were rewarded appropriately for making us a proud nation. And it is also time the media gave them the coverage they truly deserve. THE SENTINEL