Students to build micro-satellites at India International Science Festival next week

NEW DELHI: Students from across the country will build and test micro-satellites for weather observations during the three-day India International Science Festival to be held at Faridabad next week, officials said. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will inaugurate the four-day event on January 17 that is being organised by Vijnana Bharati (Vibha) and various government departments to celebrate and highlight a wide range of achievements in science, technology and innovations in India.

Students and scientists from across the country will participate in the festival at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology campus in Faridabad. The four-day festival will have several parallel sessions such as Face-to-Face with New Frontiers of Science and Technology where scientists working in the field of artificial intelligence and platforms such as ChatGPT and those associated with the Chandrayaan-3 mission will interact with the participants.

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"During the festival period, students will build micro-satellites that will be carried at an altitude of 100-150 metres using para-motors to carry out weather observations," Arvind Ranade, Director of the National Innovation Foundation and chief coordinator of the IISF said. The IISF is being organised by the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Space, Department of Atomic Energy, Vijnana Bharati and Government of Haryana.

Since 2015, the government has been supporting the IISF, which is co-organised by Vijnana Bharati, an organisation considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Last year, the government decided to dissociate itself from the Indian Science Congress Association, which has been organising the Indian Science Congress for the past 110 years.

The inauguration of the Indian Science Congress on January 3 was a key event on the prime minister's calendar in the new year since Independence. The 109th edition of the Indian Science Congress, to be held at Lovely Professional University, was put on hold after the private varsity expressed its inability to host the event.