ISRO: 'Need to develop skills to go beyond Earth's orbit', Somanath said in IADC meeting

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief S Somanath on Tuesday said the world space community needs to develop skills to go beyond Earth's orbit.

ISRO chief Somanath attended the inaugural meeting of the 42nd Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC). During this, he said, 'When you are considering future exploration, perhaps we need to develop skills to go beyond Earth orbit like Earth-Moon system and solar planet exploration. I think all those areas are getting crowded too. Especially in the area of the moon. I believe this group will look at that aspect in more detail in the coming days.

During this, ISRO chief announced that India aims to make space missions debris-free by 2030.

He said, 'The space mission has to be made debris-free by 2023 with the help of all Indian actors, government and non-government. India is creating mechanisms and frameworks to ensure that debris is not generated. He further said that we are creating mechanisms and structures within space systems so that large numbers of debris cannot be generated. A lot of good things have been going on for the last several years. We need to further strengthen all these activities in the coming days.

The ISRO chief also proposed to ensure that the orbit of about 400 km is safe so that more space stations can come up to ensure continuous human presence in space. He said, 'To build a space station in the coming days, we look at the orbits where more space stations are going to be built at an altitude of 400 km. I think this area should be protected for continued human presence in space.'