The Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), S Somanath, said Sunday that the world is looking at India as an inspirational place, and that it is wonderful to see what is happening in India, especially in the space sector, with the startup ecosystem, news agency PTI reported. Somanath, who attended the 18th convocation of the SRM Institute of Science and Technology at Kattankulathur on Sunday, also said that the Indian space sector is witnessing a transformation because of startups and great applications to develop rockets and satellites.
“We always believed others but they never believed we can do such things -- building rockets and satellites in this country ourselves -- besides having a large percentage of our own contribution (of satellites) to build them over the years and to have self-sufficiency in having our own satellites and rockets and placing them in orbit,” the PTI report quoted the ISRO Chief as saying.
Somanath said that India currently has more than 50 satellites of its own operating and at least three of the rockets are ready to fly at any time from the country’s own soil.
The ISRO Chairman, referring to 75 years of India’s independence, also said that the country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has a clear vision of what the nation needs to achieve in the next 25 years. Somanath said that in those next 25 years, India would work in the domain of science and technology.
He said he believes the real power of a nation will come out and it is only through the original work of people in science and technology can this capability be built in the country.
The ISRO Chief said that India holds the responsibility to kindle this spirit in the young minds to bring about the transformation in society which is needed for the nation to become a superpower, where “every human being in this world will wish to come and live happily without fighting each other, without expanding our domains but accepting everybody to be contributing to the entire world in terms of knowledge and skills”.
He further said: “We have to bring about a positive change in this society and that is what a nation is supposed to be”.