World seeing India as inspirational place in space sector: ISRO chief

The world is looking at India as an inspirational place with what the country has achieved in the space sector in the last 60 years, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation S Somanath said on Sunday.

Somanath said he was witnessing a great transformation in the sector by bringing in startups, incubating them in space technology and bringing great applications to develop rockets and satellites.

"The whole world is looking at India as an inspirational place and it is wonderful to see what is happening in India, especially in the space sector, with the startup eco system," he said at the 18th convocation of the SRM Institute of Science and Technology at Kattankulathur near here.

Somanath, who also received the honorary degree of Doctorate of Science (honoris causa) in recognition of his contribution to the field of science, said, "We always believed (others) but others never believed we can do such things -- building rockets and satellites in this country ourselves -- besides having a large percentage of our own contribution (of satellites) to build them over the years and to have self-sufficiency in having our own satellites and rockets and placing them in orbit."

"We have 50-plus satellites of our own currently operating and at least three of the rockets are ready to fly at anytime from our own soil," he said.