NEW DELHI: North India’s first big space centre and the country’s second-of-its-kind space training institute after the Thiruvananthapuram hub was inaugurated in Jammu on Saturday.
While launching the Satish Dhawan Centre for Space Sciences on the premises of the Central University of Jammu, space minister Jitendra Singh called the move a “historic decision” and said though most space technology institutes were confined to southern states, the “opening of this centre in 75th year of independence marked the march of space journey from Kerala to Kashmir”.
Singh, who himself represents Udhampur in Parliament, said, “The naming of the centre after Satish Dhawan is a befitting tribute to one of the founding fathers of India’s space programme, who also hailed from Jammu & Kashmir and was a real pride of the Dogra community”.
He said 60 students will be taken in the course — BTech in Aviation 7 Aeronautics — from this year. “The selection criteria will be IIT-JEE so that there will be no allegations of discrimination,” he said.
The minister also said that “after studying aviation and aeronautics from here the students will be able to find a career in space technology not only in India but in institutes like Nasa”.
Singh emphasised that the centre will be an institution for startups in space technology, especially for the people of J&K. “People from this region should use this enormous opportunity to shape their future and get rid of the yesteryear mindset of depending on a government job,” he said.
Referring to the space economy, he mentioned that India is already receiving revenue worth millions of euros and dollars through the launching of foreign satellites. Referring to space collaboration, he cited the example of the Saarc satellite that now caters to the needs of most of the neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, a statement from the department of space said.
Isro chairman S Somanath, who was also present at the launch, said that space technology now is an integral part of life, and safety and security of this country will depend on how strong the nation is going to be in the space sector.
In October 2018, Isro had signed an MoU with the Central University of Jammu to set up the centre with facilities for geo-spatial data analysis that will help in sustainable use of natural resources and plan land-use patterns. The centre has ground-based observations for atmospheric studies, research lab for astrophysics, atmospheric sensing and glacier studies laboratory for better use of large quantities of water stored in the form of seasonal snow, ice and glaciers in the rivers of north India.
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