Success of Chandrayaan-3 demonstrated India's prowess on global stage: Union Minister Majumdar

Chennai, Aug 23 (PTI) The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission by Bengaluru-headquartered space agency ISRO has demonstrated India's prowess on the global stage, Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar said on Saturday.

With August 23 being celebrated as the National Space Day, Majumdar said ISRO had handled over 400 commercial satellite launches for various clients from across the world.

Delivering the convocation address at the 24th Graduation Day of Rajalakshmi Engineering College near here, the Union Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Development of North East Region, said Chandrayaan-3 and the Aditya-L1 missions by ISRO demonstrated India's prowess on the global stage.

The Centre has declared that August 23 will be celebrated as National Space Day, commemorating the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the South pole of the Moon on August 23, 2023.

The Aditya-L1 Mission is ISRO's first space-based solar observatory, successfully launched on September 2, 2023 to study the Sun.

Majumdar said that the global space economy was expected to become a USD 44 billion industry by 2033.

India was growing at a faster pace than before and the youth of the country were becoming more capable of competing on the global stage, he said.

"India's youth, engineers and entrepreneurs are at the core of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of making India a developed nation by 2047. Youth are not merely the beneficiaries of development, they are the drivers of development," he remarked.

Majumdar said in the key sectors like semiconductors, the Centre had invested Rs 76,000 crore to make India a global hub for semiconductors and has also set a roadmap of achieving 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

"All these sectors need engineers, your knowledge, your creativity and your innovation will be at the core of this transformation," he said.

Vinod K Dasari, the former CEO and MD of heavy commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland, Rajalakshmi Institutions Chairperson Thangam Meganathan, Vice Chairman Abhay Meganathan were also present on the occasion.

About 1,720 students received their degrees on the occasion, which included 153 post graduates and 20 gold medallists. PTI VIJ KH