ISRO to establish facility for atmospheric studies

Hyderabad, Nov 16 (UNI) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) wishes to set up a world class facility for studying atmosphere, near the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh if the state government gives the nod, its Chairman G Madhavan Nair said here.

In a special message, he informed Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy that ISRO would establish the facility for advanced atmospheric studies, replying to the message sent by the Chief Minister congratulating Mr Nair and his team after Chandrayaan-I successfully put the Moon Impactor Probe(IMP) on the lunar surface last night.

The Chief Minister, in his message, sought the establishment of a Human Space Programme (Astronaut Training and Biomedical engineering Centre) and offered the necessary land in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, close to Bangalore.

The ISRO Chairman in his reply to the Chief Minister said ''The National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) of ISRO, which is functioning at Gadanki near Tirupati since 1992, is engaged in fundamental research relating to atmospheric and space sciences and developing various types of radars and lidars for atmospheric studies''.

NARL has proposed to expand its activities towards advanced technology experiments and in this regard a laboratory for developing flight instruments was planned to be set up near Tirupati.

'In this regard we seek your positive support for getting suitable land of about 20 acres for establishing a world class facility for atmospheric studies. This would attract the participation of many Indian and foreign researchers, who will contribute to advanced research in weather and climate. I request you to kindly grant this land and instruct your officials to help us in identifying a suitable land'', Dr Nair said.

Mr Madhavan Nair also said ''We wish to acknowledge with profound thanks the receipt of your congratulatory message on the launch of Chandrayaan-1 PSLV-C11 mission. We would also like to appreciate the initiatives taken by your government under your able leadership to create suitable infrastructure to reach knowledge-based economy''.

The ISRO Chairman agreed that, as part of our initiatives on Human Spaceflight Programme (HSP), a centre for training India astronauts is planned to be set up around Bangalore, in coordination with Indian Institute of Aviation, Medicine,Bangalore.

Mr Nair said ISRO would like to submit that they have been presently pursuing the approval process of the HSP at Government level.

Mr Nair said 'We are delighted to receive your gesture of offering required land at Anantapur District at concessional rates for this project. We sincerely thank you for the same and we shall approach you in this regard when the implementation plan gets finalised''.

Earlier in his message to the ISRO Chairman, the Chief Minister congratulated the ISRO team of scientists on the successful launch of the first unmanned moon mission, Chandrayyan-1, marking the beginning of a national odyssey. Dr Reddy informed Mr Nair that as part of positioning Andhra Pradesh as a destination for knowledge based industries and to develop knowledge-based economy, we are encouraging Public Partnerships to create integrated knowledge centers.

Dr Reddy said ''we understand that ISRO is developing a Human Space Program (astronaut Training and Biomedical Engineering Centre) and planning to set up such facility close to Bangalore. In this context, we would like to inform you that we have acquired a large parcel of land in Anantapur District close to Bagepalli in Karnataka on NH-7, 69 KM away from new Bangalore International Airport. We are ready to provide the required land for this project at a concessional rate and extend all the support required from government of Andhra Pradesh.

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