ISRO Chairman on space war with China, preparations for Chandrayaan 2 and Gaganayan

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan has said when it comes to India Vs China debate in space sector, India is at par with China. This comes days after China landed Chang’e-4 lunar probe on the dark side of the moon and ahead of India’s Chandrayaan 2 mission which will be launched this year. Speaking to our correspondent Sidhant Sibal, he also spoke on Gaganayaan and ISRO’s focus for 2019.

Q: What will be your focus this year?

K Sivan: Focus this year is mainly on reaching out to children, students and we want them to be more and more aware of ISRO’s programmes. We want to bring students for young scientists programme. Student satellite is being launched-Kalamsat. Along with this outreach programme, we have incubation centres. These are for spreading the wings of ISRO. Along with this, we have priority for Gaganyaan. We have 32 missions to be completed this year.

Q: We are going to launch Chandrayaan 2 this year. Weeks ago, China landed a rover on the dark side of moon. What is the difference?

K Sivan: Chinese have landed on the dark side of the moon. We are going to land on the light side of the moon. Only thing is we are landing where nobody else has gone. Going closer to the south pole, where nobody has gone.

Q: Your reaction to China vs India space debate?

K Sivan: Regarding the tech part, we are on par with them.

Q: How are we helping the South Asian region?

K Sivan: We have one south asia satellite. We are giving one transponder free of cost to each country. Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are making use of these. We are happy to note they are using satellite for the benefit of their country

Q: On Gaganyaan, are we taking help of countries? 

K Sivan: On Gaganayan, many countries are ready to help us. France, Russia is ready to help. We will make use of everybody’s expertise to our benefit. Nasa is also willing to extend cooperation. We want to make use of everyone’s help for maximum benefit

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