India a World Leader in Space Technology: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh Thursday said India was a world leader in space technology, owing to its recent landmark achievements in the field.

"Even as India is making rapid strides towards achieving the goal of becoming a world power within next one decade, it has already attained the position of a world leader in space technology through some of the recent landmark achievements," Singh said in a meeting with space department officials in New Delhi.

He said space activities like Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalayaan, conformed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of "Make in India".

The spacecraft, Singh said, "was developed and executed through 100 percent indigenous sources, material and equipment, making India the first nation which had succeeded in its maiden attempt and Isro (Indian Space Research Organisation), the first Asian agency to reach Mars orbit".

He also lauded India for providing cost-effective launch pads to developed countries for commercial satellites.

While underlining that India has launched over 30 foreign satellites for 19 countries until December 2014, the minister claimed its telecommunication satellite network was one of the largest in the world.

Singh said the Isro scientists Vikram Sarabhai as well as Satish Dhawan along with contemporaries like U.R. Rao and K. Radhakrishnan not only made the nation proud but also inspired generations of youth in the country.

At the meeting, the minister was apprised of the space projects that were in the offing.

The Isro is looking to accomplish its mission to the Sun and Chandrayaan-II to the Moon by 2017, an official statement said.

Similarly, Astronomy Satellite Missions as well as Multimedia Broadcast Satellite Missions would also be carried forward to a higher functional level soon, it said.