Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on Saturday urged varsities in India to increase research capacity so that the country’s youth can take up pure sciences.

“I have been to universities abroad. Young scientists of these universities are launching nano satellites. When will our universities launch such satellites?” said Dr Kalam while delivering a lecture during the inauguration of the seminar “Chandrayan: Promises and Challenges” at Nehru Science Centre on Saturday.

The seminar was organised by National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), the apex body of science centres and science museums in India .

He also said he had suggested The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and US space agency NASA that they should deploy surface a robotic penetrator in ‘Chandrayaan-II’ mission to study more about the presence of water molecules on moon.

“I have urged ISRO and NASA scientists to work on the future mission of Chandrayaan-2 that can explore the depth at which water is available by drilling holes on the lunar surface using a “Moon Surface Robotic Penetrator”. Chandrayaan-1 data has just started flowing in and I’m sure in the months to come, we will hear more analyses and updates,” said Kalam.

In his World Space Vision 2050, he had mentioned that he argued for reducing the cost of access to space from the present US $ 20000 to US $ 2000 per orbital kg of payload for the welfare of human kind and for ensuring protection of space assets through international cooperation.

... contd.