A top aerospace scientist has quit as the member of the Space Commission to protest the government's decision to blacklist former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair and three other scientists over the controversial Antrix-Devas deal. "We submitted the report after identifying the lapses and suggested measures to make sure that they do not happen again. We found no evidence of wrong-doing or fraud or personal gain," Professor Roddam Narasimha said.
With plans for 60 missions over the next five years, Indian Space Research Organisation will develop a third launch pad at its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh to meet the growing demand.
Indian Space Research Organisation Dr Radhakrishnan, who has been accused of waging a "personal battle" against him by former ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair, refuted the latter's claims in Bengaluru on Monday. Nair and three other scientists have been barred from holding any government posts because of their alleged role in the Antrix-Devas deal, in which the private firm was allotted scarce S band spectrum by ISRO by allegedly violating rules.
A panel of the Indian Space Research Organisation on Sunday indicted former ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair and three other scientists for acts of commission in the $ 300 million spectrum deal between commercial arm of the ISRO, Antrix and Devas Multimedia Ltd. In an interview with Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Nair slammed the panel report and claimed that his name will soon be cleared.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday attacked the prime minister on Indian Space Research Organisation Antrix-Devas row, questioning his "silence" and demanded that he must come clean as he holds the space portfolio while the Congress said that political parties should refrain from commenting on a "legal matter".
Picking holes in the high-level team report that indicted him in the Antrix-Devas deal, former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair on Sunday said it had "inconsistencies and inaccuracies" and attacked the Department of Space headed by his successor K Radhakrishnan for "cowardice" in releasing only "convenient portions".
The murky controversy raging over damning debar on former Indian Space Research Organisation Chief and secretary of Department of Space G Madhavan Nair and three other scientists is blamed on its current chief Dr K Radhakrishnan for misleading the government in the Antrix-Devas deal probe for a sadistic revenge.
Slamming the action against four space scientists over the Antrix-Devas deal without giving them a chance to defend themselves, former Indian Space Research Organisation chief Prof U R Rao on Thursday described it as "ridiculous" and indicated it might impact decision-making process at the space agency.
The Department of Space is in the process of getting clearances for release of reports of two committees on the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, on the basis of which former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair and three other scientists were barred from holding any government posts. This was announced on Tuesday by ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan, who is also the DOS secretary, in a brief statement in his first comments on the issue.
India performed yet another space feat on Wednesday when the Indian Space Research Organisation launched a record 104 satellites into orbit from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, something no other country has done before.
Former Indian Space Research Organisation chief G Madhavan Nair and three fellow space scientists against whom the government has taken damning action in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal were "thrown out like garbage", said Prof C N R Rao, head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the prime minister.
The Indian Space Research Organisation has declined to give details of its correspondence with former chief G Madhavan Nair on the report of a high-level probe into the Antrix-Devas deal, on the basis of which he and three others were barred by the central government from any re-employment.
One of the advisors to Devas said the company should seek a legal option.
Hailing the achievement of Indian Space Research Organisation scientists, Kalam told media-persons in Chandigarh that "they (ISRO scientists) have two major characteristics that is excellence in technology and creative leadership."
The nuclear nonproliferation lobby has urged the United States administration to ensure that America's dual-use technology is not diverted by New Delhi to its nuclear weapons programme.
In a security breach, a woman posing as a senior scientist entered the Indian Space Research Organisation with a fake ID card and was in the premises for four hours before being arrested by the police.
A woman, posing as a scientist, was arrested on Tuesday by the Central Industrial Security Force, when she tried to enter the campus of the Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore.
Meeting the long pending Indian demand, the Barack Obama administration on the eve of India's Republic Day removed from its entities as many as nine India space and defence related companies, including those from the Indian Space Research Organisation and Defence Research and Development Organisation.
The United States has set in motion regulatory changes to lift the ban on India's frontline technology establishments Indian Space Research Organisation and Defence Research and Development Organisation and their removal from the entities list could come soon, top American officials have indicated. A formal notification of the US Department of Commerce for this is in the advanced stage, they said.
Weighing about 5,854 kg, GSAT-11 would play a vital role in providing broadband services across the country, and also provide a platform to demonstrate new generation applications.
India's premier space agency Indian Space Research Organisation plans to undertake 58 satellite and launch vehicle missions in the 12th Five year period and sees larger role for industries in realising these ventures.
Indian Space Research Organisation has built a supercomputer, which is to be India's fastest in terms of theoretical peak performance of 220 TeraFLOPS (220 Trillion Floating Point Operations per second).
India is all set to give the go-ahead for an ambitious mission to Mars, expected in November next year, a top Space Department official said on Saturday. "A lot of studies have been done on the possible mission to Mars," Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Radhakrishnan said.
Former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair is pinning hopes on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to revoke the order banning him and three others from government jobs despite Union Minister V Narayanasamy ruling out its review, as he reiterated there is "no issue" vis-a-vis the Antrix-Devas deal.
The controversial Antrix-Devas deal will now come under the scrutiny of a Parliamentary panel. Parliament's Committee on Estimates has decided to examine the allocation of S-band spectrum by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with special reference to the Antrix-Devas deal, an official said.
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.
The task to build scientific literacy will not happen without their engagement and their tolerance for dissent.
The mission has three modules - Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan)
The president and CEO of Devas, Ramachandran Viswan-athan said, "It is puzzling to hear about such a decision, especially as we have not been intimated. We have not received any communication from any quarter, government, Space Commission or Isro."
Indian space agency ISRO would significantly scale up outsourcing to industries to fuel the quantum jump in the programmes being undertaken by it and has mooted a risk-sharing model, its chairman K Radhakrishnan said.
Indian Space Research Organisation is using the most powerful configuration of its rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle to launch a communication satellite from Sriharikota on July 15, as it braces for the nearly Rs 200 crore mission.
"The launch of Chandrayaan 2 will be in 2014. We are working towards it. It would be on a GSLV, after we launch two GSLVs within an interval of six months," ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan told reporters here soon after the launch of RISAT-1.
Gujarat holds the largest area under wetland with over 3.47 million hectares.
'There's nothing like failure in science, we experiment & we gain'
India's space scientists are developing semi-cryogenic propulsion technology using kerosene that is expected to give the country the capability to launch six-tonne class satellite, almost three times the weight its rockets can currently handle.
"We propose to cover organisations like ISRO and arms deals under the purview of Jan Lokpal as they are important from internal security angle, besides the Prime Minister above all who will come under its jurisdiction," Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde, part of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill, told media persons in Bengaluru.
The law ministry has told the department of space to allow four Indian Space Research Organisation scientists "post decisional opportunity" to place their stand on its move debarring them from occupying any government position in future in the aftermath of the Antrix-Devas S Band deal.
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.
The picture of Moon was taken by Chandrayaan-2's LI4 Camera from an altitude of about 2,650 km from the lunar surface.
According to news reports, ground images for this operation were provided by the recently launched Cartosat 2C satellite.
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