There’s good news for all the budding students aspiring to be an astronaut when they grow up. ISRO has made this dream a little closer within reach. The space agency has recently announced that it will soon launch an all-new dedicated space and science television channel across the country to inspire more cosmonauts from our younger generation.
In a recent interview, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman K. Sivan told reporters that within the next three to four months, there will be a television channel launched to reach even the rural parts of India on how space programme can benefit the common man. This new development was announced when the ISRO chairman was speaking to the media at the space agency on the sidelines of an event where the statue (bust) of the Father of India’s space programme, Vikram Sarabhai, was unveiled on his 99th birth anniversary.
The new channel will be christened as “ISRO TV” and will be telecasting science programmes and documentaries to highlight the benefits of the space agency’s missions across India. Taking note of the language diversity of India, the shows will be telecasted in regional languages as well as in English, so that it reaches the entire population across the country.
Our effort through the channel is to make people aware of the benefits of the space programme. – K. Sivan, chairman at Indian Space Research Organization
With space-age growing rapidly, India too needs to educate its common mass in the benefits of space tech and exploration. In an effort to mobilize the younger generation towards astronomy and space oriented knowledge and career, ISRO aims to develop scientific rigor among India’s children and youth through this channel. Modules will also be set up by the space agency for students from class 8 to 10 to be trained at ISRO for a month. In order to inculcate scientific temper among students, ISRO officials will mentor them for 25-30 days and allow them to visit ISRO’s labs and launch facilities.
The students will be allowed to make their own small satellites at the end of the programme. This project, which will be launched soon, has received appreciation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi (who oversees the Department of Space). – K. Sivan, chairman at Indian Space Research Organization
In another development, Sivan reported that the agency is also in the process of setting up space galleries and museums across the country.
Taking the cue from NASA, ISRO will soon be opening up its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh to the public. Though the dates of its opening are still to be announced, people will soon be able to pay a visit to the launch facilities at Sriharikota on the lines of American space agency NASA, the space agency Chief said.
