The ISRO row showed no signs of abating as former chief of the space agency, G Madhavan Nair on Tuesday hit back at his successor K Radhakrishnan dubbing as "another lie" the latter's claim that an inquiry was conducted into charges and lapses relating to the Antrix-Devas deal.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy on Sunday accused former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair of misleading the nation by saying he was not given a chance to explain his case before the high level panel which indicted him and three other space scientists in the Antrix-Devas deal.
Battling the action against him and three other top scientists in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair on Monday demanded that the order barring them from government posts should not only be revoked but an apology should be tendered by those responsible for it. "They owe an apology not to me but to the whole country. Somebody has taken the law into their hands and they have to apologise," said Nair.
Reflecting a sense of disquiet, senior ISRO scientists, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was a sad episode and the space agency's image has certainly taken a severe beating.
Nair, who has been barred from holding any government post for his alleged role in the controversial Antirx-Devas deal, was in Patna on Friday to bid farewell to his colleagues.
Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair, Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, historian Ramachandra Guha and noted billiard player Pankaj Advani were among the 63 personalities who received the Padma awards in New Delhi on Tuesday. The recipients also include social activist Sunderlal Bahuguna and veteran actor Helen Khan. President Prathibha Patil gave away the Padma awards at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
India has initiated steps to build its first indigenous civilian transport aircraft under a public-private partnership project that will be undertaken in a national mission mode.
India's ambitious unmanned lunar mission `Chandrayan' is likely to soar into the skies in the second week of October, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Wednesday."The satellite integration is almost complete. And we would be entering the thermovac in about a week's time. It takes about 45-50 days for the launch after thermovac, after which we would declare the date. The earliest is October," he said.
ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair told PTI that the agency has invited the scientists and expects representation from scientists behind Indian payloads (scientific instruments) as well those from guest instruments, including from NASA and the European Space Agency. An ISRO official said, "It will be a closed-door meeting. The scientists will analyse data from preliminary findings".
The UPA government looks set to give the contract a decent burial and, in turn, redeem ISRO and itself.
"The level of education and knowledge being imparted by many colleges... they are not up to the mark. Instead of concentrating on quantity, these institutions should concentrate on quality," he told PTI in an interview.
There was no major design flaw in the Indian Space Research Organisation's Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle, which crashed seconds after take-off on December 25 last year, said a fact- finding panel.
A jubilant Nair was addressing a press conference at the ISRO headquarters in Bangalore on Friday after a NASA payload aboard the Chandrayaan-1 found Hydroxyl, a molecule consisting one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, in the lunar soil.
It's a fast-track spacecraft for rural connectivity, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, G Madhavan Nair told PTI in Bangalore. Primarily aimed at rural areas, it's an INSAT-class (three tonne) satellite but the speciality would be that instead of having an all-India beam, it would have spot beams covering different parts of the country, and there would be a control hub by which it would be connected to national network.
Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair is all set to become the first non-American to head the International Academy of Astronautics.
India has completed the design of Chandrayaan-2, its next mission to the moon -- this time in collaboration with Russia -- that would have a lander and rover that can collect samples of the lunar soil and analyse them and send back the data.
The government has sanctioned seed money of Rs 10 crore to carry out various studies on experiments to be conducted, route of the mission and other related details necessary to scale the new frontier, said ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair.
The agreement for cooperation in space technology was signed between Astrium and Antrix -- commercial arm of the ISRO -- entailes utilisation of the PSLV launch services. It enables Astrium to offer attractive solutions in international markets for in-orbit delivery of its earth observation satellites, using the PSLV launch services from Antrix/ISRO.
Seven months after its launch, India's maiden mission to the moon Chandrayaan has reportedly developed a technical snag. Reports suggest that the star sensor on board Chandrayaan has malfunctioned, thus partially crippling the spacecraft.Due to the malfunctioning of the critical component, it has now become difficult to steer Chandrayaan. Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation, which had successfully launched the moon mission, have patched two sensors.
India will develop its own version of the Global Positioning System by launching seven satellites in 6 years. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, to be functional by 2012, will be used for surveillance, telecommunications, transport etc.
'Today, when we talk of success of PSLV and GSLV Mk III, we owe it to important inputs that the Prof. Narasimha committee gave'
With India's maiden Moon Mission making a path-breaking discovery on water presence on the lunar surface, the objectives of Chandrayaan-II will be modified for further probes in that aspect, ISRO chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair has said
India and the US have agreed to cooperate in the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes, including in human space flight, under an agreement signed between their space agencies.
Indian Space research Organisation Chairman G Madavan Nair said on Monday that India would launch a mission to Mars by 2013.Earlier, on August 13, the government sanctioned seed money of Rs 10 crore for the Mars project, to carry out various studies on the experiments to be conducted, the route of the mission and other related details necessary to scale the new frontier.The ISRO has begun the preparations for sending a spacecraft to Mars.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair today said the country should be proud of Chandrayaan-1 for being a successful low-cost planetary mission.
Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair met Dr Singh in Delhi on Friday afternoon and briefed him on the lunar mission launched on October 22.
ISRO officials said GSAT-4 is a technology demonstrator. Its communication payload comprises multi-beam Ka-band beam pipe and regenerative transponder and navigation payload.
India and Russia held discussions on the possibility of cooperation in space exploration, including missions to the moon and Mars. Russia's head of Federal Space Agency met the Indian Space Research Organisation chairman.
Besides the two US payloads, Chandrayaan-I will carry five Indian instruments, three developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and one from the Bulgarian Space Laboratory.
A highly respected scientist with 35 years of experience in ISRO, 60-year-old Radhakrishnan has played a key role in many of the country's space projects, including Chandrayaan-I.
"If every country tries to attempt and destroy another satellite and (space-based) resources, it is almost like a war-like situation," Nair, also chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, told PTI in Bangalore.
"They (China) should not have done that. It's against international convention. First of all, we are not supposed to weaponise outer space," Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation G Madhavan Nair told PTI in Bangalore.
The successful landing of the Moon Impact Probe on the lunar surface has not only boosted the confidence of ISRO to undertake inter-planetary travel in future, but also conveyed a firm message to the world that India means business in the field of space, ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair said in Bengaluru on Friday.
"It (the cost of setting up the launch pad) is around Rs 600 crore. A major national facility (for training astronauts) will be established in Bengaluru, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair told PTI.
It is raining heavily at Sriharikota where the Satish Dhawan Space Centre is located
"We will have to study newer technologies to develop capsules, which will send men to space and bring them back safely"
ISRO is developing a 100-kg "satellite bus" as demand has picked up for launching nano-satellites, chairman G Madhavan Nair said.
K Narayana, former director of SDSC-SHAR and currently senior advisor to the Centre, will chair the 15-member panel
two US scientific instruments will be on board India's mission to the Moon 'Chandrayaan-1'.
He said in almost all areas of security-related activities, the space -- earth observation, communication and electronic intelligence, among other things -- plays a very major role.
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