The Conclave 2023: Golden Era of Space Exploration for India, Says Dr. Sarag Saikia

The concluding session of ‘The Conclave 2023’ organized by the Pratidin Media Network in Delhi was on the topic “Chandrayaan 3 & Aditya L1: Mission Accomplished”.

The panelists of the session were Dr. Sreejith Padinhateeri, Assistant Professor of MCNS; Dr. Aishawnnya Sharma, Assistant Professor of Bahona College; Janmejoy Sarkar, Senior Research Fellow of IUCAA, Pune and Dr. Sarag Saikia, MD & Chief Technologist, Spacefaring Technologies.

The moderator of the session was Nayan Pratim Kumar, Political Editor of Pratidin Time.

Stressing on the missions, Dr Sarag Saikia said that the present time is “a golden era of space exploration for India’.

He said, “This is a golden era of space exploration for India. There are many missions coming up. The upcoming is the Shukrayaan Mission which is to Venus. Our goal is to find life on the planet which is one of the largest mysteries of science.”

In the opening remarks of the session, Dr. Aishawnnya Sharma thanked Pratidin Time for inviting her to the session and said, “I thank Pratidin Time for organizing this session. India has witnessed two huge achievements in Chandrayaan and Aditya back to back. Our country has come a long way in space and technology.”

Dr. Sreejith Padinhateeri stressed that India turning into a major global player in the field of space and research. He also said that the fruits of the research would bear after 10-15 years from now.

Padinhateeri said, “It is unique for India to become a major global player. It is interesting being an economic person and researcher. The real fruits would bear after 10 to 15 years when students start doing research and produce results. Once growth starts, it will further keep growing.”

Further, Dr Sarag Saikia said that it is a proud moment for India in the field of science and technology. He also recommended students to take up space exploration. He said, “Do not look for immediate benefits. Our future lies in space, we have to capture it.”

Janmejoy Sarkar, on the other hand, said, “Aditya and Chandrayaan are challenging missions. We are in that domain where very few space agencies have placed their satellites. It is nice to see that these agencies are pushing students forward and putting in such missions. It is a great step for students that they are getting opportunities.”

Speaking on the present position of Aditya-L1, Dr. Sreejith Padinhateeri said that the distance to L1 is five times more to the moon.

“Right now we are on the way to L1 and it is expected to reach there in first week of January,” he said.

Upon being asked about her work after the Aditya-L1 mission, Dr. Aishawnnya Sharma said, “My work will be to research about some waves in the sun. Some blasts occur in the Sun continuously. The particles that come out from these explosions can affect machinery. Therefore, it is important to understand the space weather. It is important to understand the reasons for the waves.”

Dr Sarag Saikia, while speaking on the importance of these missions to India said, “We cannot be reliable on other countries. These missions have a day-to-day effect on our lives. India is ambitious now, we are growing and that has to be matched by technology.”

Further on, the panelists shared their experiences working for these missions. Dr. Sreejith claimed that it was not an easy task to work at ISRO as they had to work for hours. He said that they had to work continuously at the labs even during the Covid times.

While, Janmejoy was of the view that very day was special for him. He spoke at length about the kind of clean environment he had to work daily for hours.

Dr. Aishawnnya Sharma was of the view that she faced many technical problems while working.

She said, “I was particularly working with data. It takes time to collect the data. I had faced many technical problems during the process. While collecting data, my objectives of doing the work get hampered.”

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