BENGALURU: India has developed three cryogenic systems today and it is one among six countries in the world to have this technology, said ISRO Chairman V Narayanan.
Speaking at the launch of tech giant Google’s largest campus in Bengaluru on Wednesday, he highlighted world records set by the Indian space programme. “We were very clear that we need to become the world leader. Today, we have three world records. From engine test to flight, the minimum time taken by any other country is 42 months, and we have done it in 28 months,” Narayanan said.
Narayanan, who assumed charge on January 14 as chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said on January 16, India successfully executed the SpaDeX docking experiment. “India became the fourth country to have the technology of space docking,” he said.
The country’s first satellite was launched in 1979, and on January 29, ISRO marked its 100th launch. “It was a grand and successful launch,” he said.
On a lighter note, Narayanan said there is a small difference between a Deepavali rocket and “our rocket”. “Deepavali rockets can go wherever they want, ours should go wherever we want,” he said, also sharing an anecdote about his Deepavali celebrations. “Last Deepavali, I purchased 12 rockets and while lighting the first one, I was praying that this rocket, as the director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, should not end up in someone’s house. But it landed on the eighth floor! I did not light the rest.”
“Wherever we go, nowadays, we are asked when India will become No. 1 in space technology. The space programme was launched in 1962, and in 1967, the first indigenous rocket was launched. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin travelled to space. In 1969, when I was in Class I, sitting on the floor in a village school, it was announced that a man landed on the Moon. When we started our programme, we were 60-70 years behind more advanced countries,” he said.
Explaining India’s progress in space research, Narayanan said today, the country has 131 satellites in orbit and six generations of launch vehicles have been developed.
He added that Chandrayaan-3 is the first mission which soft-landed on the South Pole of the Moon and India is the first, and only country to have accomplished this. Chandrayaan-1 found water molecules on the Moon and the credit goes to India, and “some credit goes to the US too”, the ISRO chairman said.