Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said with the launch of the fourth satellite in the IRNSS series on March 28, India is now providing navigation and communication facility to all the surrounding countries falling in the service area of these satellites.





Addressing a group of young space researchers from around the world, Singh said with the successful accomplishment of the Mars Orbiter Mission, the world has accepted India’s supremacy in space technology. “The entire credit goes to the “Team Isro” who have in the last fifty years, beginning from a humble initiative under Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan, today placed India on the top of the world’s space map.



“Although the missions to the moon had begun in 1960s by Russia and USA, but it is India’s Chandrayan Mission-I in 2008, which discovered the presence of water on the surface of the moon and turned a new chapter in the world’s understanding of moon.”



The minister said it is a proud moment for India’s space scientists to see enthusiastic young space scholars and researchers from across the world, looking forward to learn from the Indian experience. In the same vein, such interactions prove to be equally rewarding for the scientists back home by acquainting them with the kind of projects and space missions being undertaken by their counterparts in other parts of the world.



The space researchers, who were on an interactive training trip to the Isro establishments in Bengaluru and other places, were amused by this exposure and said, they had never imagined that India had moved so far ahead in the field of space technology.



Some of the scholars from the neighbouring countries suggested that India should take a lead role in providing its space technology services to the surrounding countries in the region.



Later, accompanied by Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar, Singh spent time discussing the work relating to development of various satellites scheduled to be launched in the next few months and also interacted with the scientific fraternity.

