Isro to start 3 guided tours in a year for students from this summer

NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation ushered in new year by launching a student outreach programme called ‘Samwad with Students’ at its facility in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The first event saw 40 students and 10 teachers from select schools interacting with Isro chairman K Sivan. During the three-hour stay, the chairman engaged with students on a series of topics ranging from rockets, satellites, Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan and other space applications.

When an Class 8 student asked about whether Isro was his first choice as a youngster, Sivan said: “I was very shy when I was young. And as far as college and career goes, I was always denied my first choice. After high school, I wanted to study engineering but ended up studying BSc Mathematics. Later, I got into engineering and wanted to join ISAC (now URSC) Bengaluru, instead joined VSSC at Thiruvananthapuram. At VSSC, I wanted to join the aerodynamics group, but was part of the PSLV project instead.”

When a student was keen to know how they could contribute to Isro missions, he said: “When you complete your studies with focus on fundamentals of science, you could get back to us and help us solve our problems.”

After the interaction, the Isro chairman told TOI the outreach programme was aimed at “motivating young India and tap their scientific potential”. He said the “agency will organise guided tours of students thrice in a year, especially during summer and Christmas holidays. The programme will be implemented in two months’ time, probably from coming summer holiday. Class IX to Class XII students from across the country can come for these guided tours”. Sivan said the “students will be taken to Isro facilities in Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru and the launch centre at Sriharikota. They will also be taken to space laboratories and will be allowed to make small satellites.”

Isro of late has also been working on setting up six incubation centres and the same number of R&D centres across the country. Sivan said, “These incubation and R&D centres will give a platform to young minds to use their talent in the field of space research and technology. The centres are likely to come up by this year.” The Isro is also planning to launch a channel called ‘ISRO TV’ to reach out to the masses.

The chairman said the agency is "planning to launch 30 missions, including satellites and rockets and highly ambitious Chandrayaan-2 mission, this year and is all geared up for them". However, it will also keep working on student programmes to educate and tap the potential of the young minds from across the country.