New Delhi - Seeking to groom experts to help grow the country's satellite and rocket programmes, India will set up its first space university in the southern state of Kerala, reports said Sunday.
G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which will set up the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) to meet high technology requirements of ISRO, said the agency had set a 'target' of mid-August.
Nair told the news agency PTI that ISRO came up with the idea of the institute as it was faced with a 'very alarming situation' in terms of attracting the right talent for India's space programmes.
'Students will be taught in propulsion, aerodynamics, navigation, guidance, sub-systems, avionics, control systems and so on,' Nair said. 'So, that way, as soon as they come out of the Institute, they will be usable by us.'
IIST will initially operate from the campus of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram, a lead centre of ISRO, and venue for launches. ISRO will later create full-fledged infrastructure for IIST on a site near the Kerala capital in about two years.
For its first batch the institute has already had a good response. Around 150 students are expected to be enrolled in aeronautical and avionics engineering and integrated MSc (Master of Science) in space sciences in the first academic year.
'For the starting batch there are a large number of applicants from (Indian Institute of Technology) IITs,' said Nair.
Many students coming out of India's premier technology institutes like IIT and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) are choosing management or information technology studies, or go abroad for work - thus are not available to the Indian scientific community.
The Bangalore-based ISRO gets more than 70,000 applications annually from students of other institutions. But after the final selection process, only about 200 make the grade, whereas ISRO requires more than 300 scientists for its various space programmes.
Nair said this 'difficult process' actually becomes a real hunt for talent at the country-wide level.
'So we thought we need to plan something unique, catch the students at a young age,' said Nair.
India, on June 21, inducted the Indo-Russian supersonic BrahMos missile into its defence forces. It has also developed, indigenously, all-terrain, short- and long-range ballistic missiles.
ISRO manufactures and launches Indian satellites. Through its commercial arm Antrix Corporation, ISRO undertakes commercial satellite launches for other countries as well.
ISRO plans to send an unmanned mission to the moon in 2008.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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