The Kerala Space Park project opens up immense opportunities for the State to establish a thriving space industry, Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal said on Saturday. He was inaugurating a seminar ‘Sustainability in Space Science and Technology - Challenges and Possibilities,’ organised by the ISRO Staff Association as part of its golden jubilee celebrations.
Mr. Balagopal drew attention to the recent Cabinet nod for transforming the Kerala Space Park into a society under the name ‘K-Space.’ The Left governments in Kerala have always taken care to promote science, technology, sustainable and inclusive development and new ideas, Mr. Balagopal said.
Space science is highly relevant at a time when debates centre on climate change and global warming and the need to protect the planet, he said. ‘‘Stephen Hawking once predicted that we would need to colonise other planets to avoid extinction. Today, we are discussing the ill-effects of global warming and climate change. We have to the duty to protect the planet,’‘ he said.
R. Umamaheswaran, director, Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC), ISRO, former Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director M. C. Dathan, and academic Vaisakhan Thampi participated in the seminar. K. Rajeev, director, Space Physics Laboratory, VSSC, was moderator. ISRO staff association president E. S. Hareesh presided. General secretary G. R. Pramod and secretary Vipin spoke on the occasion.
Published - January 14, 2023 07:20 pm IST
