The Gaganyaan mission, India’s first unmanned one, is very important as it would boost the science and technology capability of the country, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Dr Kailasavadivoo Sivan at the 8th convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar here on Saturday.
He said the ISRO’s next priority is Gaganyaan mission. “We have set a target of achieving it by December 2020; and the second unmanned mission is targeted in July 2021. By December 2021, an Indian will first be carried by our own rocket to space”, Dr Sivan informed.
Stating about his various phases of life, he said, “I never got what I wanted in my life at first sight; rather I learnt valuable lessons.” Careers are not about making basic choices in life but making the best of opportunities available for one. “If something is denied to you, something bigger is waiting for you,” he observed.
Addressing the graduating students, Dr Sivan said three things play vital roles in life when one rolls up his sleeves to take up challenges in the world.
Firstly, fear, which plays a major role in life. He said people who are afraid would never make any initiative and will never take risk in life. Yes, there is chance that they would fail. However, if one doesn’t take risk, there is a chance of never achieving anything significant in life, he said.
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‘Gaganyaan to boost India’s tech capability’
Stating about the second thing of taking calculated risk, Dr Sivan spoke through the example of the Chandrayaan-2 and said the bulk of instruments to carry out the inter-planetary site is orbiter, the desired life of which is one year. But due to optimal mission operation, its life has increased to 7.5 years, he pointed out.
Innovation, the third thing, he said, comes from taking a high level of risks and failures; and the failures should be taken as learning opportunities. And if you are not failing then you are not trying anything hard, he further observed.
Talking of startups, he said many startups are coming up nowadays and are copying each other, for which they are failing. They should think how it can be done in different ways which is better than a conventional method.
Lastly, he said to do crazy and fantastic mistakes and learn from them and innovate something glorious.
As many as 356 students including 32 PhD, 105 M.Tech, 67 M.Sc and 152 B.Tech graduated from the IIT BBS. The President of India Gold Medal was awarded to Shrohan Mohapatra of the Computer Science and Engineering for best academic performance among the outgoing B.Tech batch of students.
The Director’s Gold Medal was awarded to Rahul Das of the School of Infrastructure for best academic performance among the M.Tech batch of students and Anubhav Nath of the School of Basic Sciences for best academic performance among the M. Sc batch of students.
Among others, IIT BBS Director Prof. R.V Raja Kumar, the Board of Governors Chairman and Academic Affairs Dean, who spoke on the occasion, referred to the achievements of the institute.
