Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, here [Trivandrum] to-day [December 29] disclosed a move to have one of the Apollo missions carry and leave on the moon Indian-made equipment capable of carrying out important experiments. He hoped this proposal, communicated by the Indian scientific groups to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States, would be accepted, so that India too could collaborate in the lunar research programme. Dr. Sarabhai said data could be received by the ground based telemetry system if the Indian-made equipment was placed on the moon. India, he said, was specially interested in the study of solar wind, cosmic rays and gamma ray astronomy. The moon surface would be the best space platform for such studies as it was unimpeded by any atmosphere. Dr. Sarabhai, who also heads the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian Rocket Society (I.R.S.), was delivering the “Dr. Homi Bhabha Memorial Lecture” at a symposium on “Space engineering and technology” on the occasion of the first annual meeting on the I.R.S. in the Space Science and Technology Centre on Veli Hills near here [Trivandrum]. The meeting is attended by about 300 space scientists from all over India. Referring to recent developments in the peaceful uses of outer space, Dr. Sarabhai said an interesting field was the ‘remote sensing’ method, which was proposed to be tried next year for early detection of the virus diseases that afflicted coconut gardens in Kerala. The infra-red sensing technique would be employed by lifting instruments in an aeroplane first and later in a satellite for observing radiation coming from the ground in different wave lengths.
