ISRO chairman visits IIM Shillong

SHILLONG, July 31 – Prof Ashoke K Dutta, Director IIM Shillong welcomed Dr K Radhakrishnan, Chairman ISRO and Space Commission in the IIM campus here on July 26 last, a Press release said.

Dr K Radhakrishnan told the students of IIM Shillong about the vision of ISRO which is to bring about social welfare through utilisation of space technology. He related how space technology can be used to combat the problem of food crisis and illiteracy. He also walked through pages of history way back in 1963 when the seed of ISRO was born in Thiruvananthapuram.

“From being nascent in space technology to being in the distinguished company of six nations who have the capability to launch satellites from their own soil and that too in a span of just 50 years, is a journey which every Indian is proud of,” said Dr Radha-krishnan.

India has also become the 4th nation in the world who can bring an object back from the orbit of the satellite.

Remembering the golden days when ISRO had just started, Dr Radhakrishnan said that as fresh young engineers, post graduates joined the company with their enthusiasm and high spirits. From the world of theory, gradually ISRO transformed to a world of reality.

India is able to achieve the best economics in space exploration programmes as its spending is just 3 per cent of NASA’s spending, 10-15 per cent of Europe’s expenditure, and one-third of what China spends in its space exploration programmes.

Discussing the tangible and non- tangible benefits of space technology, he said that India can feel proud of the returns that it can leverage out of its space exploration programme and that too at such low costs.

Talking about ISRO culture, Dr Radhakrishnan said that ISRO has its own way of doing things which people are trying to emulate in government as well as non - government organisations. “ISRO can be a subject of detailed study for management students as it is a learning organisation. You can see things happening there. Nothing in ISRO is stagnant. Every employee of the organisation is clear about achieving goals based on principles laid down by its founder Dr Vikram Sarabhai.”

Terming the space exploration as a risky project as there is a thin line between success and failure, Dr Radhakrishnan gave an example as how because of one DC convertor’s fault a whole project had to be aborted. Besides there is also space weather and solar flaring in space which can upset the electronic system in a satellite.