Article written by Rejith Ramesh about “ India and space technology”.

REJITH RAMESH


Article written by Rejith Ramesh about “ India and space technology”.


India and space technology

India, the world’s most populated country after china is pioneer of science and technology. From ancient period itself India’s scientific and cultural heritage was world famous. Ancient Indian astrologers were the first to find out the exact shape of the earth, speed of light etc.

Ancient Indian astrologer Aryabhatta was the first to propose that earth is spherical in shape. Aryabhatta also studied about lunar and solar eclipses.

Ancient Indian Vedas are one of the best sources of knowledge. One of the most important scientific observations in the Vedas are the one associated with speed of light. According to that the speed of light is almost as equal to 2,90,000 km/s. Today we know that speed of light in vaccum is 3.1x105 km/s. That means only a difference of 10,000 km between these two.

Modern Indian scientists have contributed much to modern space technology. After independence, India have made much progress in the field of space technology. Aryabhatta – I was India’s first satellite. India was the sixth country in the world to launch satellites.

Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to go to space. He was a member of the soviet space crew which had its expedition in 1984. Kalpana Chawla was the first Asian woman to reach space. She was killed along with 7 other members of the crew when the Columbia space shuttle exploded while returning to earth. It was her second space travel.

Indian scientists have made valuable contribution to space technology. Homi Jahangir Bhabha who is the father of Indian atomic energy was the first to discover the effects of cosmic rays on atmospheric gases. This is very useful in launching of space shuttles, study of organic chemistry etc.

India’s President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam is regarded as one of the best space scientists in the world. He is behind most of India’s scientific projects and also is the father of Indian missiles.

India is now planning voyage to the moon. The expedition is named chandrayan. ‘Chandrayan – I’ spacecraft is expected to start the voyage to the moon in 2007. India is also planning to send manned spacecraft ‘Chandrayan – III’ in 2015. This will be a great achievement for our country.

India is the first country in the world to launch a satellite entirely for education. This is known as EDUSAT. Edusat is used for e-conferencing, internet etc. It will help students to communicate with teachers and other students all over India and abroad.

India has vast potential of graduates who are highly qualified to work for the development of Indian space science. But most of them prefer to working abroad because of more scope and high salaries. The government of India must make necessary steps to improve the conditions to improve the methods and also attract more persons toward it.

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