Harnessing Space Technology for Societal Benefits

Abstract

Advances in space technology have not only enabled man to explore the moon, other planets of the solar system and beyond, but also look at the earth from a vantage point in space more closely. In particular, Indian space programme from it`s inception has been driven by applications benefitting the society and helping national development. Remote sensing, satellite communication and space-based navigation are three important dimensions of this programme. Remote sensing satellites indigenously built and flown over the last two and a half decades have provided valuable data facilitating inventory, monitoring and development of natural resources, be it agriculture, forestry, water resources, snow & glaciers, fisheries etc.. Observations from these and other meteorological satellites are found invaluable in monitoring and mitigation of disasters. Tele-education, telemedicine, search and rescue programmes have been greatly benefitted by the availability of space-based communication links. Location-based services are likely to get great boost with the setting up of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. The talk would describe these developments through a few illustrations and would also briefly tell about what the future holds.

About the speaker

Dr Ranganath Navalgund has a PhD in Physics from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay and worked at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for a period of 35 years(1977-2012). He held the position of Director of two major Centres of ISRO viz. the Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad(July 2005 to March 2012) and the National Remote Sensing Center, Hyderabad (May 2001 to November 2005) during this period. His contributions are broadly in the area of Remote Sensing Systems, Science and Applications. He was responsible for the establishment of Decision Support Centre for disaster monitoring at NRSC, Mahalanobis National Crop Forecasting Centre, various State Remote Sensing Centres in the country and Indo-Myanmar Friendship Centre at Yangoon, Myanmar.

He is a recipient of many awards including Outstanding Achievement Award of ISRO, Bhaskara and National Remote Sensing awards of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Astronautical Society of India and an Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics.

He is currently Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor at ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore, since May 2012 and Visiting Professor at IIT, Mumbai, since 2014.