Ahmedabad, August 23 (IANS). The third National Space Day was celebrated on Saturday at ISRO's Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Gujarat Minister Arjun Modhwadia participated in this program. At the beginning of the program, ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan welcomed everyone. th. Narayanan said, “The people who have built this organization, built the space program of this country, the former directors, senior colleagues who are present here. It gives me great honor and immense pleasure to formally welcome all of you on behalf of the Indian space community. For the first time, National Space Day is being celebrated in the city of Ahmedabad.”
He said, “Today we are here for the third Space Day celebration. We had done this event twice in Delhi and on the advice of the Honorable Prime Minister of India, he advised us to take it to the entire country. All this is to bring the benefits of space to the common man of this country. There is no satellite without payload. There is no need of launch vehicle without satellite. There is no need of ground infrastructure without launch vehicle.”
Talking on water security, he said, “Water security is very, very important for our country. When we are talking about 140 crore citizens, water security is very important. Today, two important ministries (Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture) are with us at the forefront. As far as the Ministry of Culture is concerned, many of you would know that India is going to create history by releasing a lot of data under its leadership. You all will know and India will become the best country in that field.”
Welcoming the guest, he said that he is fully committed to science, technology and innovation, environment protection, climate change, natural resource management and disaster preparedness for the state of Gujarat. We are honored and privileged to have you as our guest of honor for this important event.
Speaking to the media, ISRO Chief V Narayanan said, “You all know that 23rd August 2023 was a historic day for Mother India and we successfully soft-landed Chandrayaan-3 near the south pole of the Moon and we became the only and first country to successfully soft-land near the south pole. The Prime Minister of India had announced to celebrate that day as National Space Day and today we are celebrating the third National Space Day and the theme is very, very important, Aspires to be a global leader in innovation, collaboration and space.”
He said, “Based on the government policy today, we have to improve the space ecosystem in the country. And it is not just the government that has to do the work, ISRO will hand-hold, do in-space authorisation, and we are enabling start-ups, companies and the private sector to participate in space activities on a large scale, which will grow the space economy at least manifold.”
Speaking at the event, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, “When I was asked to participate in this National Space Day event, the first question that came to my mind was that neither have I studied science, nor do I know the essence of science. Neither have I had the opportunity to work in any scientific organization, nor can I count on my fingers the number of visits to scientific organizations and interactions with scientific people.”
He said, “On behalf of the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, I am honored to be here in front of you all. Today on this occasion of the third National Space Day, I am honored to be amongst you all. The Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad has invited me here. It is a great honor and pleasure for me.”
Speaking to the media, Gajendra Shekhawat said, “ISRO's workload has not reduced. ISRO's capacity to work has increased many, many, many times. Now the time taken to develop an application, build a satellite, develop a payload or launch a satellite has reduced many times and all this is now happening with much greater efficiency.”
He said, “After the success of the Chandrayaan Mission, following the announcement of the Honorable Prime Minister, India will celebrate as National Space Day the day when India stepped on the South Pole of the Moon at Shiv Shakti Point. I am extremely happy that today India is celebrating the third National Space Day under the aegis of the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. Under the leadership of the Honorable Prime Minister, immense possibilities have opened up for India through the privatization of space science.”
Gujarat government minister Arjun Modhwadia said, “ISRO, Ahmedabad and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai are the cornerstone of our space sector. He conceptualized and established the space missions. And now everyone knows what ISRO is, what is in-space and what is Space Application Centre. Gujarat is also fortunate to have a leader like Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of the state. He set up the Department of Science and Technology in 2006 and now we have six verticals under Science and Technology. One of the verticals is space technology.”
–IANS
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