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Mysore to host international summit on space research
About
3,000 scientists and students from 75 countries, including India,
will deliberate on the benefits of space for humankind at a summit
in Mysore, 150 km from here, beginning Monday. "The week-long
summit (July 16-22) will deliberate on a global vision for space
in 2020 and beyond. »
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Mysore
(Karnataka): Over 2,500 scientists from 75 countries
descended on this city of palaces, for a week-long international
space summit, being held in India for the second time after 33
years.
"As the last frontier of science, space offers limitless
opportunities to explore the vast universe and discover its
unknown assets for the benefit of humankind," a top space agency
official said in this Karnataka city, 150 km from Bangalore,
Saturday.
Hosted by the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO),
the seven-day biennial 39th Scientific Assembly of the Committee
on Space Research (Cospar-2012) will deliberate on a global vision
for space in 2020 and beyond.
As the Indian IT bellwether Infosys Ltd is the co-host of the mega
event, the assembly is being held at the N.R. Narayana Murthy
centre of excellence in its sprawling green campus on the
outskirts of Mysore.
"Holding an event of this magnitude in India after three decades
is recognition of our achievements in space technology and it s
applications for the benefit of over a billion people and our
contribution to the international space exploration," ISRO
chairman K. Radhakrishnan told reporters even as the assembly got
underway.
With India embarking on dedicated space missions such as
Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 to the moon, Kalpana-1 satellite for
meteorological data, health satellite for tele-medicine, Edusat
for tele-education and a host of advanced communications and
remote sensing satellites, the space agency has been successful in
igniting young minds and drawing global attention and recognition.
"Our activities in the recent past have attracted the attention of
the space-faring nations worldwide and recognition following the
successful lunar mission and launch of multiple satellites for
several international customers over the years in polar and
geo-synchronous orbits using our rockets," former ISRO chairman
and Physical Research Laboratory Council chairman U.R. Rao said on
the occasion.
The delegates, including 800 research scholars and students will
get an overview of the challenges the scientists face in utilising
space resources and assets being built from the 3,600 papers, pos
ters and reports that will be presented through 630 sessions
during the summit.
"Science thrives on its technology application. There was a time
when astronomers were looking at space and the solar system using
ground-based equipment, including powerful telescopes to scan the
universe. Space technology has reversed the trend to observe the
earth and other planets using satellites and a host of scientific
instruments from space," said Radhakrishnan.
The assembly will also have six inter-disciplinary lectures, a
presentation on 'A space astronomy global road map for the next
decades' and a public lecture on exo-planets by experts.
Heads of the nine space-faring nations, including Brazil, Canada,
France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea Russia and the US will
present their respective vision for space in 2020 and beyond.
"The assembly is an ideal platform to present India as a
significant venue for s pace research and innovation. Hosting such
a prestigious event offers our scient ists an opportunity to get
involved and benefit from interactions with their glo bal
counterparts," Rao pointed out.
The previous (38th) assembly was held at Bremen (Germany) in 2010
and the next assembly (40th) session will be held at Moscow in
2014.
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