NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Friday voiced concern over increasing space debris as a result of numerous satellites being placed in orbit and lauded ISRO for setting itself a target to make future space missions debris-free by 2030.
“I am happy to note that India is moving forward to make all its space missions debris-free by the year 2030,” she asserted.
Murmu was speaking at the celebration of the maiden National Space Day celebration as chief guest to mark the first anniversary of the landing of India's Chandrayaan-3 project said, “Space debris can cause problems for space missions and there should be concerns on addressing this”.
Underscoring the importance of preparing the country to tackle this issue effectively, she said that India is working to ensure its all space missions are “debris-free” by 2030. She said that the explorations in the space sector have yielded a transformative impact, advanced human capabilities and brought imaginative ideas to life.
Lauding ISRO for its achievements, the President said that ISRO has had a wonderful journey since its initial days. “It has made remarkable achievements in the space sector. Along with this, ISRO has also made invaluable contributions to the country's social and economic development”, she said.
She hailed the ISRO efforts and its dedicated scientists who have placed India's Space Program among the best Space Programs in the world by using minimum resources.
She said that the progress of India's space sector is extraordinary. “Be it a successfully completed Mars mission with limited resources or the successful launch of more than a hundred satellites at once, we have made many impressive achievements,” she said.
She also added that research conducted to solve the problems during space exploration accelerates the development of science and benefits many sectors including health and medicine, transportation, security, energy, environment, and information technology.
She expressed happiness that just a few months ago, an Indian company successfully launched a single-piece 3D printed semi-cryogenic engine-powered rocket.
At Bharat Mandapam, Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath, engineers, ISRO scientists and representatives of the country’s space industry were present.
As part of the main program, the president presented awards to winners of the Robotics Challenge and the Bharatiya Antariksh Hackathon on the occasion.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Department of Space Dr Jitendra Singh said that India will land its astronaut on the lunar surface in 2040. He dwelt upon India’s achievements and initiatives being taken in the space sector under PM Narendra Modi's leadership.
It was the first National Space Day Celebration at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi after the Modi government designated August 23 to be observed as National Space Day every year to commemorate the successful landing of the ‘Vikram’ Lander on the surface of the Moon on August 23, 2023.