ISRO to set up its regional centre at IIT-BHU

Varanasi: Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will set up its Regional Academic Center for Space (RAC-S) at IIT-BHU here under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which IIT-BHU and ISRO signed on Wednesday to pave the way for advanced research in the future technology of the Indian space program.

On behalf of IIT-BHU, its director Prof Pramod Kumar Jain and Director, CBPO, ISRO HQ Dr PV Venkatakrishnan on behalf of ISRO virtually signed the MoU. IIT-BHU director Prof Jain said that the Regional Academic Center for Space (RAC-S) of ISRO will act as a major facilitator for promoting space technology activities in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. IIT-BHU will act as a catalyst for capacity building, awareness creation and R & D activities of ISRO. The activities of RAC-S shall be directed to maximize the utilization of research potential, infrastructure, expertise available at ISRO and IIT-BHU.

He further said IIT-BHU will be the leader and project monitor of RAC-S in which Institutes of Excellence in the field of science and technology in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will be roped into participate in various research and development activities. Prof Jain further said that with the help of the RAC-S at IIT-BHU will leverage research in space science and space technology, space application, agriculture, telecommunications, meteorology, water resources to design developmental models for effective natural resource management. He iterated that such an initiative will greatly benefit the Purvanchal and Central regions of the country.

The Centre will facilitate short and long-term projects to propel the culture of research and development. Short-term projects for B-Tech and M-Tech students from the institute and associate institutes will also be included in this sequence. Long term R&D projects leading to the Ph.D. Programme will also be offered. Capacity building programmes like conferences, exhibitions and short courses will also be organized to strengthen the knowledge base in the field.