Over 1600 space exploration applications have revolutionized our daily lives here on Earth, says ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) chief A S Kiran Kumar. We indeed have space technology to thank for memory foam mattresses, home blood pressure kits, CMOS sensors for mobile phone cameras of today, digital signal processing technology for MRI and CAT scans, scratch-resistant lenses, implantable insulin pumps, advanced cardiac pacemakers, modern dental braces and so much more.
Kumar has noted that innovation does not require the creation of an entirely new technology, reports PTI. Sometimes, it’s just about applying our existing knowledge and expertise in a cost-effective and efficient manner. India’s GAGAN, IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System), Astrosat, Aditya and other missions will offer many more advances in the near future, according to the ISRO chief. This July, the space agency will be testing a reusable shuttle which could bring down the price of satellite launches.
On the subject of ‘space inventions’, though Velcro credited to NASA, it is a Swiss product from the 1940s. It was popularized during the Apollo missions to anchor equipment in zero gravity environments for the convenience of astronauts. More than 1600 space applications have benefited Earth’s populations till date and many have become popular due to mankind’s thirst for exploring the unknown. So it’s easy to see why people get confused about which technologies were invented for use in space before they were tweaked to suit everyday lives on our planet.
Kumar spoke about how space applications have affected our lives at a convocation ceremony hosted by a private university. He said that rapid and cost-efficient innovation is needed to stay competent. The Indian National Satellite System, the largest domestic communication system in the Asia Pacific Region, for facilitating meteorology, communication and broadcasting applications, is just one of ISRO’s many handy achievements to date.