The print : Nov 02, 2019, 02:23 PM
New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is helping set up a new research centre at IIT-Delhi that will carry out projects in space technology, with an aim to provide scientific solutions to India’s future manned missions to space.IIT-Delhi will sign an MoU with ISRO on its 50th convocation day Saturday, where ISRO chairman Dr K. Sivan is expected to be the chief guest.Addressing the media at a press conference Friday, V. Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT-Delhi, said the research centre will take up focused projects in the space technology domain with specific deliverables.“It has also been proposed that IIT-Delhi as an institute become an academic partner of ISRO in research areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), nanotechnology, functional textiles, smart manufacturing or any areas of joint interest,” Rao said.Centre could help with Gaganyaan India is on course to launch its first space station, Gaganyaan, where Indian astronauts will spend time to conduct space experiments. This ambitious mission will help the country prepare for future deep-space missions.Sending astronauts to space, however, has many challenging aspects that will require new technological innovations.With the new space technology cell, IIT-Delhi will contribute to India’s space mission. Rao said many of IIT-Delhi’s research work already have applications in the space and defence sectors. He cited the example of Cleansta, an IIT-incubated start-up, which develops waterless personal body hygiene products that may be useful in space.An IIT-Delhi faculty member said ISRO will provide committed funding to the centre.Meanwhile, IIT-Delhi has already submitted proposals to act as an academic consultant in the fields of AI, textiles technology, nanotechnology and smart manufacturing.