Taking India’s space astronomy research a step forward

Taking India’s space astronomy research a step forward, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned to set up a telescope on moon.

“As a follow-on mission to Astrosat, discussions are in progress with an international body regarding setting up of a telescope on moon,” said ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of delivering the second Dr APJ Abdul Kalam memorial lecture at IIT Madras, he said that this telescope can have lot of advantages as there were no atmosphere or atmospheric effects associated with it.

At present, the organisation is exploring various possibilities of operating this scientific observation capability analogous to the one in Handley in West Virginia, US, remotely controlled at Bengaluru. In September last, ISRO launched Astrosat, the country’s first astronomical satellites with two telescopes.

Throwing more light on the GSLV Mark III, Kiran Kumar said the agency was gearing up for its launch later this year so that four-tonne satellites can be put up on the orbit. GSLV-Mark II had the capacity to launch 2.25 tons of satellites.

Answering students’ questions on Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) and cost associated with it, he said the technology was definitely needed irrespective of the cost effectiveness, as it has the capability to carry objects into space, allow it to complete its orbital action and bring it back. “We are currently working on the developing this capability.”

Addressing the gathering, he said that private operators like SpaceX were posing a great challenge to government space agencies globally and ISRO realised that it can’t survive despite significant achievements unless it continued to innovate.