There is no price tag for moon mission: Nair

Chennai, Nov 13 (UNI) Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief G Madhavan Nair today sought to silence the critics of India's first moon mission, stating ''one cannot put a price tag for the mission''.

Inaugurating an International conference on ''Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and Applications-2008'', organised by the Sathyabama University here in association with ISRO, he said the mission would enthuse the younger generation to take up space technology for research.

Referring to questions raised over the relevance of the successful moon mission, he said ''there had been questions from all quarters on the relevance of the moon mission and why money should be wasted on this. But one cannot put a price tag to this''.

The moon mission has shown to the world that India was second to none in mastering high technology. By this mission, ISRO has put India high in terms of technology and prestige, he added.

''With a miniscule budget, we have shown to the world our expertise in cutting edge technology'', Mr Nair said, adding only about three per cent of ISRO's total budget in the last four years has been used for the Chandrayaan-1 mission.

He said out of the budget, a major portion had gone into creating world class infrastructures like the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Dyalalu village near Bangalore.

The facility with 32 metre and 18 metre dia dish antennas was world class. It could be used for inter planetary missions to Mars and Venus in future, Mr Nair said.

More UNI WS VV SY PM1622