India needs more world-class telescopes to engage in competitive science: ASI chief

She was delivering the presidential address at the 40th ASI meet hosted at IIT-Roorkee and jointly organised by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital.

“India is lagging in observational facilities, thus making us dependent for data on other (global) facilities. This is not a happy situation. India needs to improve the observational facilities and have access to multi-wavelength and multi-messenger facilities,” Anupama said.

The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune, she said, remains among the few world-class facilities available in India. “Apart from some telescope facilities working between the 1-metre to 4-metre class, India otherwise does not have telescopes in the optical and infra-red spectra that function in ranges between the 8-metre to 10-metre class for doing competitive science,” she said.

According to Anupama, over the recent decades, astronomy has grown with a lot of synergy. With India’s participation in mega science projects like the Thirty Metre Telescope, Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory and the Square Kilometre Array projects, a stronger astronomy community is required.

India with its unique longitudinal positioning, and places like Ladakh, has promising locations for setting up suitable telescopes in future, proposals for which are under consideration, the ASI president shared.

“We need to also expand to the submillimeter region – the area of star formation. There is a need to upgrade and network the existing telescope facilities with the global ones, especially for studying transient objects,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Professor K Vijay Raghavan, principal scientific adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, formally inaugurated the ASI 2022 meet and said, “I urge the Indian astronomy community to plan forward-looking and futuristic research plans which will help India make significant contributions in global mega-science projects.”

In his virtual address, Raghavan elaborated on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and their growing uses.

Anupama also mentioned that astronomy was among the top areas included in the Mega Science Vision Document-2035, an effort led by the office of the PSA. The document will be a roadmap that decides the future course of research covering nuclear science, high energy physics, astronomy and astrophysics, accelerator-based science and technology and climate research, ecology and environment.