OneWorld.net (U.S.)

BANGALORE: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is looking to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to provide it with technical know-how for establishing tele-education links.

Officials of NASA met with ISRO on Friday to discuss a project, according to ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, at the inauguration of the distance education programme of the postgraduate course in software management offered at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB). The class provides a link between the classroom in Bangalore and Chennai.

Mr. Nair said the NASA team was impressed with India's success in the tele-education initiative and was looking to replicate it.

"There is a shortage of teachers in U.S. schools and they want to use tele-education to provide quality education in many schools at the same time," he said.

Mr. Nair said the INSAT 4A had already been shipped. ISRO was launching the satellite on the French Ariane 5G. He said the satellite would be launched in mid-December.

Later, delivering the 32nd Foundation Day Lecture, Mr. Nair said ISRO was planning to expand into areas of navigation, geographical positioning and direct to home broadcasting.

He said the space research organisation was also looking for cheaper ways of getting into space. One possible solution was by the construction of recoverable and reusable rockets.

"Sending a rocket into space is very expensive at present. Even the launch pad costs a few thousand crores."

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of the IIMB board of Governors, during his maiden visit to the management institute, urged the students to equip themselves for a business world that required them to "harmonise several disciplines and to be able to translate a complex technical product into one that can be used by millions."

He said India had the opportunity to surpass China's gross domestic product in the next two years and to sustain it by becoming a knowledge capital.

"The next 20 years will be our most productive years," he said. Director of IIMB Prakash Apte presided over the event and gave an overview of the expansion plans of the institute for the year

Source: The Hindu More