M A I N   N E W S

Lunar mission in 5 years, says ISRO chief

Thiruvananthapuram, September 3
The country’s first lunar mission would be accomplished within five years, the ISRO’s new acting chairman G Madhavan Nair said today.

In his first interaction with reporters here after taking over as ISRO chief, Nair said: “We will have our spacecraft orbitting around the moon in the next five years.”

The design activities and experiments for the mission were going on and the ISRO had got the necessary approval from the Union Government for the project, he said.

Nair said two engines for the mission had been tested and the stage tests were getting along. The cryogenic tests would be carried out very soon.

The educational satellite “edusat” would be launched next year providing links between IITs, Indian Institute of Science and major educational institutions, he said.

“Tele-education is also coming in a big way and there are demands from different states, including Jharkhand. A host of application programmes have been initiated in this field,” he said.

The application of telemedicine technology was part of the ISRO’s plans to use space technology for the benefit of the common man. The services of major hospitals could be made available to inaccessible areas through the project, he said. — PTI