As the ninth India International Science Festival is set to take place in Faridabad in January 2024, Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said on November 16, 2023, that India has made rapid strides in innovation and technology, and stated that the country’s success stories, such as Chandrayaan and Covid-19 vaccine development, are being acclaimed globally. He also said that in the last 10 years, India has shown the world how best science, technology and innovation can be used to make the life of a common man easier.
Singh stated that the science festival will have a festive aesthetic, and that it is not a serious academic exercise. Therefore, each and every individual will be able to understand where best they can use a particular scientific innovation.
Some of India’s recent scientific feats include the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon’s south pole, and the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently launched the first uncrewed flight mission of the Gaganyaan programme. Known as Test Vehicle Development Flight (TV-D1) or Test Vehicle Abort Flight, the mission, carrying an uncrewed Crew Module and a Crew Escape System, took off from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Gaganyaan TV-D1 is an important mission because it demonstrated the performance of the Crew Escape System, and is the first mission of Gaganyaan's uncrewed flight tests.
ISRO and NASA are set to launch the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite in the first quarter of 2024. A few tests, such as those related to vibration, will be conducted before NISAR is launched.
NISAR is an Earth observing satellite that plans to analyse and survey all of Earth's lands and ice-covered surfaces every 12 days. However, there will be a 90-day satellite commissioning period in the beginning. This means that the satellite will become operational 90 days after launch.