Opening of Space Training Institute in J&K marks India’s march of space journey from Kerala to Kashmir

Jammu, March 12 (UNI) Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday said that the opening of the Space Centre and India’s second-of-its-kind Space Training Institute in Jammu and Kashmir in the 75th year of independence simultaneously marks the march of India’s Space journey from Kerala to Kashmir under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“At the same time, naming it as Satish Dhawan Centre is a befitting tribute to one of the founding-fathers of India’s Space programme who hailed from Jammu and Kashmir but ironically not a single institution in J&K was named after him,” said Singh after inaugurating North India’s first-ever Space Centre and addressing conference on ‘Frontiers of Space Technology and Applications for Humanity’ at Central University of Jammu at Samba.

Dr Singh described this as a historic occasion and said that most of the Space technology institutes were in the past confined to Southern States and the only one-of-its-kind premier ‘Indian Institute of Space and Technology’ imparting Engineering in Aeronautics and allied streams was located in Thiruvananthapuram.

First batch of 60 students in the course of B. Tech in Aviation and Aeronautics in this institute will start from next session and selection will be made through All India IIT-JEE Entrance Exam.

The Union Minister for Space said that the future of the world will hugely depend on the upcoming Space economy, Space collaboration and Space diplomacy. Referring to the space economy, he mentioned that India is already receiving revenue worth millions of European Euros and US Dollars through the launching of foreign satellites.

Dr Jitendra Singh also said that India is entering into an era when it is going to play a pivotal role in space technology with India already having taken a lead in the world as far as space technology is concerned.

Dr. Jitendra Singh stressed that today is a historical day for the entire North India with the inauguration of Satish Dhawan Centre for Space Sciences at Central University of Jammu and a conference on ‘Frontiers of Space Technology and Applications for Humanity’ in collaboration with Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram.

Dr Jitendra Singh emphasized that this institute would be an institution for startups in space technology as well especially in J&K and people from this region should use this enormous opportunity as provided by the government to shape their future and get rid of the yesteryear mindset of depending on a government job.

Paying rich tributes to Satish Dhawan, Dr. Singh said that Satish Dhawan being the son of the soil and the doyen of space technology in India was to be celebrated much earlier in J&K but it took us seventy years to celebrate his contribution today in the form of this institution at Central University of Jammu.

The minister added that the actual remains today belong to J&K and will now connect Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Former Chairman, ISRO, Dr. K Radhakrishnan in his address said that when India has become a role model for the rest of the world in terms of Space Technology, Satish Dhawan is a reverential role model for the students.

Dr. Radhakrishnan wished that this institution would be the prestigious institution in years to come all over the country like the other premier space institutes. Chairman ISRO, Somnath S said that space technology now is an integral part of life and safety and security of this nation will depend on how strong the nation is going to be in space sector.