ISRO developing green propulsion for mission 'Gaganyaan', says Chairman Sivan

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Sivan, while addressing the 16th convocation of SRM Institute of Science and Technology on Saturday, said the national space agency was developing 'green propulsion' for the country's ambitious human space flight mission, 'Gaganyaan'.

Sivan said, "As India continues to focus on economic growth, it needs to ensure that environmental damage is limited by adopting green technologies. ISRO has made space-grade lithium-ion batteries and this technology is useful for mass adoption of electric vehicle."

Sivan, while talking about the green propellant, said, "Even in the rocket propulsion, ISRO is developing green propulsion for its human space flight mission. In future, all the propulsion stages may adopt green propulsion."

ISRO had planned to launch its maiden human space flight mission 'Gaganyaan' by December 2021. But early this month, ISRO indicated that it is likely to be delayed by one year due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

Sivan, who is also the Secretary, Department of Space, advised the new graduates to take up 'calculated risk' in their life as it may safeguard them from 'absolute failure'.

He added, "You may fail, but each failure would provide a valuable lesson. I can say with great confidence that India's space programme has been built on spectacular failures and each failure has resulted in improvements in our system."

Sivan added that innovation was not just having a great idea on paper. "Innovation comes with a high risk of failure. You may be called crazy. Initial outcome of innovation may be imperfect. You must realize that you are not failing means you are not trying anything hard", he added.

Sivan, while referring to the space sector reforms announced by the Centre in June, said, "the government has already announced space sector reforms for greater participation of non-governmental entities in space activity."

He said, "Our next PSLV (polar satellite launch vehicle) launch will have satellite from start-up agencies which will be the first product of this reform."

He urged the university to come forward and make use of the space sector reforms recently implemented in India. "ISRO is very much open to you all. I request SRM to come forward with their innovative idea of making space activities as required by the Government of India. I am sure that SRM will do this work", added Sivan.

He added that the government's Digital India initiative was a key area to leverage and ISRO has already initiated reforms to make digital assets easily available to the industry and for startups to make innovative navigation applications, earth observation and for disaster management.

(With inputs from PTI)

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