BENGALURU: It is an interesting era where the world is not only looking at space exploration, but also space colonisation, but it will not be easy to set up a colony in such a hostile environment, be it the Moon, Mars or any other planet in space, said Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (Retd) -- the first and only Indian astronaut -- on Wednesday. He added that colonies in space should not be made by individual countries, but instead with the aim of the practice being “collaborative rather than competitive”.
Sharma, along with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, interacted with over 200 students from schools at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) in the city, under the programme ‘Reaching for the Stars: A Conversation with NASA and ISRO’. The Indian astronaut reiterated the need to be mindful of the finite resources of Earth and advocated, “Science with a conscience and Science that will positively impact lives.”
Sharma applauded ISRO for harnessing space technology for the benefit of society, and India’s recently signed Artemis Accord is a positive step towards building a “Sustainable and equitable space exploration”, he said.
The duo met after 1991, and is all set to visit the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) here on Thursday to look at the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite (NISAR), which will be launched in early 2024. NISAR will measure Earth’s changing ecosystems and collect data on natural hazards.
Sharing his experience with students, Nelson spoke about how when he saw the Earth from space, he did not see racial, religious or political divisions, but that we are all in this together. He added that space is a unifying frontier for all countries. He called the current generation the Artemis generation and referred to himself as the Apollo generation.
Nelson said, “This current generation will be the one to go to Mars and it’s the Golden Era of space exploration.” He explained that despite the differences between the US and Russia, they don’t exist in space. “The astronauts and cosmonauts built the space station together and work together… that is how space unifies,” he said, lauding the growing partnership between India and the US.
He added that NASA will also train an Indian astronaut and fly him/her to the International Space Station next year and will continue to collaborate with the country for many science projects.