Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh:
India is all set to announce its indigenous astronaut launch program which involves launching of Indian astronauts, using an Indian rocket from Indian soil, while technical capabilities exist, the government has been sitting tight on ISRO's proposal for more than two years. Now according to the new chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization Dr K Radhakrishnan, the approval for this Rupees 12,400 crore venture may come even before the Independence Day.
Radhakrishnan says `we expect that the government will give us approval in a couple of months' on being asked will it be announced in the Prime Minister's Independence Day speech, the ISRO chief confirmed that the approval and announcement could happen `even before that'!
This startling disclosure by the chairman of ISRO comes on the eve of a big launch by ISRO in which it is testing a fully indigenous GSLV rocket slated for launch in the afternoon of April 15, 2010.
Dr Radhakrishnan reveals that in the next few weeks the government may announce approval of India's most expensive scientific program that of putting two Indian astronauts in space, with this India is set to join the select club of America, Russia and China that have such human space flight capabilities.
Radhakrishnan says ISRO is ready to launch Indian astronauts by 2017 and according to him `as of now what we have is a pre-project study' and that the astronaut program will be implemented in phases, the first phase is to test the unmanned crew module; a service module in space four years from now after that the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) will be used to launch the Indian astronauts.
Radhakrishnan says the Rupees 12,400 crores will be needed over seven years which would involve setting up of several ground facilities like launch pads, the mission control center, astronaut training center, all permanent assets on the ground. The ISRO chief says `what goes into the orbit will be [costing] about three to four thousand crores'.
On being asked if India can afford this seemingly profligate step when the country still has about 400 million people in India living below the poverty line, Radhakrishnan replied : "Let me just recall, 46 years ago the country decided to get into the space program. The same questions were asked at that time. The main focus was that we should use it for the common man. And today, after 46 years we see that we have given back to the common man and the country much-much more than what has been put into the space program. This is the study by the independent agency. In terms of the direct benefits accruing from the remote sensing satellite, the communication satellites. So when this program is proved in the human space flight with the long term vision that we have, 30- 40 years from now, probably you could have a new source of energy. You will have several technologies which will be giving benefit to the other sectors in the economy."
Radhakrishnan says `we expect that the government will give us approval in a couple of months' on being asked will it be announced in the Prime Minister's Independence Day speech, the ISRO chief confirmed that the approval and announcement could happen `even before that'!
This startling disclosure by the chairman of ISRO comes on the eve of a big launch by ISRO in which it is testing a fully indigenous GSLV rocket slated for launch in the afternoon of April 15, 2010.
Dr Radhakrishnan reveals that in the next few weeks the government may announce approval of India's most expensive scientific program that of putting two Indian astronauts in space, with this India is set to join the select club of America, Russia and China that have such human space flight capabilities.
Radhakrishnan says ISRO is ready to launch Indian astronauts by 2017 and according to him `as of now what we have is a pre-project study' and that the astronaut program will be implemented in phases, the first phase is to test the unmanned crew module; a service module in space four years from now after that the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) will be used to launch the Indian astronauts.
Radhakrishnan says the Rupees 12,400 crores will be needed over seven years which would involve setting up of several ground facilities like launch pads, the mission control center, astronaut training center, all permanent assets on the ground. The ISRO chief says `what goes into the orbit will be [costing] about three to four thousand crores'.
On being asked if India can afford this seemingly profligate step when the country still has about 400 million people in India living below the poverty line, Radhakrishnan replied : "Let me just recall, 46 years ago the country decided to get into the space program. The same questions were asked at that time. The main focus was that we should use it for the common man. And today, after 46 years we see that we have given back to the common man and the country much-much more than what has been put into the space program. This is the study by the independent agency. In terms of the direct benefits accruing from the remote sensing satellite, the communication satellites. So when this program is proved in the human space flight with the long term vision that we have, 30- 40 years from now, probably you could have a new source of energy. You will have several technologies which will be giving benefit to the other sectors in the economy."
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