Former ISRO chairman and professor U R Rao wants an Indian on Mars

Bengaluru: Sooner than later, Indian space scientists must send an Indian into outer space and join the global race to land on Mars, says Prof. U. R. Rao, former chairman of Isro, and head of the space agency’s Advisory Committee on Space Sciences.  

The question of how soon a manned flight could blast off from the spaceport at Sriharikota or when an Indian could head to Mars would be difficult to estimate, but Isro should develop the know-how as human colonies on Moon and Mars could be a reality by 2030, Prof. Rao said.

“There is no choice but to embark on a manned mission because 50 years from now other countries will start exploring them Moon and Mars for resources, and we cannot sit here and buy those resources from others. There are no short-cuts. We must have a very clear idea about how we must proceed as a nation though some people will raise questions about the cost of such missions. Of course, we must prove the reliability of GSLV as otherwise a single mishap in space will set off an outcry about the programme,” he said.

He said a scientific probe to Mercury could be another probable mission, but landing on asteroids or Phobos and Deimos, both moons of Mars, are difficult to accomplish and would not yield much data for scientists.