NIT Patna, ISRO sign agreement to establish academic centre for space research: Report

NEW DELHI: The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Patna and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed an agreement to set up ‘Regional Academic Centre for Space’ at the institute to promote space research, the Times of India reported. The Centre will make way for advanced research in space technology, it said.

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NIT Patna director PK Jain and ISRO associate director MA Paul were present during the event along with others, the report said.

The Centre will facilitate advanced research in the fields of space technology, space science, and space applications important for space programmes being run under eastern Indian states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sikkim, as per the report.

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NIT Patna will act as the nodal centre for carrying out advanced research in this region, the report said.

“It will promote the research activities in various fields, including electronics, communication, material science, information technology and remote sensing, as per the need of the ISRO. The experts will give us the topic and ideas from the interaction and we will submit the joint research work with the ISRO’s report. The project will be reviewed, monitored and guided by the scientists,” Jain was quoted as saying.

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Jain added that the Centre is open for any institute in Eastern India that requires any support regarding experimentation, the report said.

ISRO will give a grant of Rs 2 crore annually for research projects, undergraduate, post graduate, PhD programmes and teaching faculties, the report said. The institute will conduct short-term projects for BTech, MTech students of its own and other institutes, it said.

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Besides, the Centre will offer long-term research and development projects for PhD scholars and teachers. The projects can be individual or inter-college and will be examined by first NIT Patna and then ISRO, as per the report.