New agenda need of the hour for India’s space ecosystem: IIST V-C Dipankar Banerjee

A “new agenda” needs to be established for India’s space ecosystem given the growing global and national requirements and the need to bring multiple players together, Dipankar Banerjee, Vice-Chancellor, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), said here on Friday.

Dr. Banerjee was inaugurating the 39th National Convention of Aerospace Engineering and ‘Space 2.0 - The Agenda,’ a seminar organised by the Institution of Engineers (India) under the aegis of its Aerospace Engineering Division Board. “The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has done pioneering work. Today, the entire ecosystem has dramatically changed and it is important to work together with the industry, academia and start-ups. The demand has grown to such proportions that today, one or two institutions alone may not be able to meet the requirement,” he said. “We have to set up a new agenda where we can work together,” he added.

‘Radical changes’

N. Jayan, Director, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), said India is witnessing radical changes in the space sector. He said that in his opinion, India’s space programme is, in fact, at the threshold of ‘Space 3.0,’ after the initial learning phase and a second, operational stage where the vision of Vikram Sarabhai -- the father of the Indian space programme -- was accomplished.

In the third phase, India is redefining the objectives. On the one hand, the societal applications are pursued with rigour. On the other are the exciting exploratory missions such as the upcoming projects such as Chandrayaan-4, Bharat Antariksh Station and the Venus and Mars missions. “Basically, space technology is transforming into space industry -- that is the essence of all this,” Dr. Jayan said.

‘Eminent Engineer Awards’ were presented to S. Geetha, vice-president, Skyroot Aerospace Systems; Gajbier Singh, Director, MomentuX Systems, and C. Senthil Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of Aerospace Engineering, MIT Campus, Anna University. The Young Engineer Award was presented to E. Karthik Vel, Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, RV Engineering College.