An Endowment Lecture by Dr K Kasturirangan

St Aloysius College (Autonomous), Mangaluru organized an Endowment Lecture on the topic ‘Forays into Space and Beyond’ on December 4, 2019 at L F Rasquinha Hall, LCRI Block. Dr K Kasturirangan, Former Chairman of ISRO and Chairman of the Committee for Drafting National Education Policy was the Speaker.

Rev. Fr Dionysius Vas SJ, Rector, St Aloysius Institutions presided over the programme. Dr Fr Praveen Martis SJ, principal, St Aloysius College, Dr John E D’Silva, Director of Xavier Block, Dr Ronald Nazareth, Coordinator of the programme and Dr Vinola Rodrigues, Convener of the programme were on the dais.

Rev. Fr Dionysius Vas SJ, in his presidential address, briefed on the Indian space programmes. He said that space research has given so much to the world. He emphasized the role of sustainable development goals which would definitely be attained through space research.  

Dr. K. Kasturirangan in his lecture articulated about the history, the expanse and context of space exploration by various nations with relation to military, scientific and socio-economic development. He narrated the vision of the Indian space research organization mentioning how it meets the socio-economic needs of the society. He reminisced the role of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai in Indian space exploration, achievements of ISRO in the last 5 decades of Indian space exploration and the 5 major programmes of ISRO namely remote sensing, communication, broadcasting, navigation, space science applications and space transportation. He gave information regarding the application of IRS series of satellites in disaster management, environment and ecology, agriculture and soil management. He elaborated on the growth of ISRO through – PSLV, GSLV, GSLV MK-III, space vehicles. He also told about the future space missions of ISRO and other important missions of India in science and technology.

He gave an insight into the timeline of Indian space launch projects; Chandrayaan 1 (2008), Mangalyaan (2013), Astrosat (2015)-the only multi-wave length observatory satellite in the world and Chandrayaan 2 (2019) which have been milestones in world space exploration.

He revealed the future projects envisioned by ISRO; Aditya L1 and Xposat (2020), Venus Orbiter (2023), Chandrayaan 3 (2024) and ExoWorlds (2025) – the proposed exo-planet mission by ISRO. This will be the most challenging mission of ISRO which intends to explore details of the precursors of life on other planets. He concluded by quoting John F Kennedy, “There are costs and risks to a program of action, but they are far less than the long range risks and costs of comfortable inaction”.

During the programme, Dr K Kasturirangan was felicitated for his commendable contribution in the field of Science and Education.

Dr A.M. Narahari, Registrar, Dr Alwyn D’Sa, Controller of Examinations, Dr Dennis Fernandes, Dr Loveena Lobo, the Directors, Rev Dr Denzil Lobo, Director of AIMIT, Rev Fr Vincent Pinto SJ, Finance Officer, Deans were present for the programme.

Preema Cealla Pais, Dept of PG Chemistry compered the programme. Dr John E D’Silva welcomed the gathering. Rev. Dr Praveen Martis SJ introduced Dr K. Kasturirangan and read the Citation. Dr Ronald Nazareth proposed the vote of thanks.