Five-day Space Science Exhibition organised in collaboration with LAHDC Leh, University of Ladakh, and Space Application Centre (SAC-ISRO), Ahmedabad was inaugurated by L-G BD Mishra on September 9 at Lamdon School, Leh.

Chairman/CEC, LAHDC Leh, Tashi Gyalson; Director, SAC-ISRO, Ahmedabad, Nilesh M Desai and Vice-Chancellor, University of Ladakh, Prof S K Mehta were also present.

Terming the event as ‘positive’ and the information provided by the experts as beneficial, LG commended the organisers, especially the scientists from SAC ISRO, for disseminating information on initiatives being taken by the Government of India along with the scope for students and youth in space applications as a career. Stating that the Vikram Sarabhai Space Exhibition is a big event, LG highlighted the importance of the youth coming forward to contribute to the overall development of India.

Commending ISRO for their various space missions that immensely benefit billions of Indians, he stated that now everyone knows about ISRO as much as NASA due to the recent success of the Chandrayan 3 mission. He also stated that ISRO’s success is the result of their years of hard work and the lessons learned from the launch of Chandrayan 1 and Chandrayan 2, which proved to be a stepping stone to success for them. He further stated that the instruments/machinery used in building Chandrayan 3 by involving a large number of people have immensely benefited them and shown the capability of India to build the satellites indigenously.  

L-G advised the Ladakhi youth and students to become top scientists, leaders and educationalists and progress ahead in their lives. He also advised them to come up with their own start-ups and ventures and become job providers instead of job-seekers so that they could contribute to the overall development of Ladakh and the country.

Director, SAC-ISRO, Nilesh M Desai, and other scientists were felicitated on the success of the Chandrayan 3 Mission. He also released LAMA (Ladakh-specific Modeling and Space Applications) poster and documentary film on the occasion. 

CEC, Tashi  Gyalson expressed gratitude to the team of scientists from SAC-ISRO, Ahmedabad led by Director, Nilesh M Desai for fulfilling the commitment of visiting Ladakh with a program on Space Exhibition and workshop on the LAMA Project. He also lauded the ISRO scientists and the scientific community for the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 and their dedication and hard work in achieving the space dreams of India.

CEC said that the Ladakh-specific Modeling and space Applications (LAMA) Project with SAC Ahmedabad will be beneficial to Ladakh as it aims to carry out interdisciplinary scientific investigations of natural resources, environment, and climate change over the Ladakh region through satellite observations, modeling, and ground measurements to address various environmental-related issues like flashfloods, cloudbursts, etc.

Director, SAC-ISRO, Nilesh Desai highlighted the commendable space history of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and India’s historic journey to the Moon (Chandrayaan 3), which is the first successful soft-landing of a moon mission on the South Pole of the Moon in the world. 

He also added that SAC Ahmedabad would provide necessary hand-holding support and guidance in exploring collaborative mechanisms for science-based decision support systems and advancing space science research and education in Ladakh.

He also informed about the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, on September 2 from Sriharikota.

Documentary on the LAMA project was released and screened along with the launch of the Brochure of the LAMA project by the dignitaries.