Exploration might come naturally to man, but manned missions are the ones that unite the global space community, the common interest being finding alternate resources like energy and water for the benefit of mankind. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Sunita Williams agrees and stresses that this would fuel futuristic space explorations and manned missions to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Targeted at different verticals, the applications of space research activities are aimed at benefiting the human community across the globe.
India is not lagging behind in space exploration. It has plans for about 60 missions over the next five years for achieving objectives in various fields?navigation, positioning, advanced communications, space transportation, earth observation and space science?which would increase opportunities for commercial and scientific cooperation. There is Chandrayaan-1, India?s first scientific mission to Moon, which will carry a terrain mapping camera and other equipment for exploration of the Moon. The Astrosat scientific mission will enable multi-wavelength studies of a variety of celestial sources.
Says Vijay Kumar Saraswat, chief controller R&D (missiles and strategic systems), Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), ?In the wake of fossil fuels getting exhausted at a rapid rate, there is an urgent need for a reusable launch system which would help in the exploration of alternative sources of energy. Low-cost access to space can be achieved with the collective efforts of the industry, R&D centres and engineers across the globe with more efficient use of solar energy.?
The space community aims at bringing the present cost of launch at $30,000 to as low as $200-$300. Says Williams, ?There has to be international collaboration among space research centres. Only then can interesting researches be undertaken.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has big plans for future satellites that will give more transponders for DTH transmission. The INSAT-4A launched in December 2005, is being followed by the 4B, 4C, 4D and 4E.
Says Bhaskarnarayana, director, ISRO, ?About 65% of the satellite capacity is used for cable TV and DTH andthe rest 35% for providing other services. We are already in the final process of using MPEG4 compression technology to create more bandwidth to ensure that increased demand is met for DTH and IPTV.?
