02 Feb 2017|Noida | I2 Moot Court
Delegation from prestigious Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA, USA visits Amity University
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A delegation comprising of three members from prestigious Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA, USA to Amity University Noida Campus.
The delegation was led by Dr. Michael Watkins, Director, JPL, NASA along with Dr.Diane Evans, JPL Director for Earth Science & Technology Directorate and Mr. David Gallagher, Associate Director for Strategic Integration, JPL, NASA who were welcomed by Dr. W. Selvamurthy, President- Amity Science Technology and Innovation Foundation; Dr. Sanjay Singh, Director, Amity Institute of Aerospace Engineering; Prof. M S Prasad, Director, AISST and Senior Officials of Amity University.
During the visit, the members of delegation delivered an expert talk wherein they apprised about their knowledge and vast research experience with faculty members and students of Amity Institute of Aerospace Engineering (AIAE).
Welcoming the guests, Dr. (Mrs.) Balvinder Shukla, Vice Chancellor, Amity University Uttar Pradesh said that Amity believes in providing global platform to students and encourages them to use their skills and creativity for betterment of society. She stressed that interaction with such eminent delegation will inspire the budding engineers and scientists of Amity. She emphasized on the importance of academic research which is integrated to identify the challenges and needs of industry and the outcome is directed to nurture industry ready professionals.
Sharing his views on US-India Space Cooperation and outlined that Dr. Michael Watkins said that NASA shares a history of successful collaborations withIndia. The collaboration between NASA and ISRO began in 2005 with the Chandrayaan-I mission where an eight-kilogram Moon Mineralogy mapper from NASA accompanied the mission, resulting in "joint-discovery" of water on moon. He apprised that JPL has also assisted in India’s successful Manglayan (MOM) mission by providing JPL Navigation Support and JPL Tracking Support. He further briefed about the important association between NASA and ISRO for AVIRISNG Joint Airborne Campaign which has been first high fidelity imaging spectroscopy measurement for a diverse set of Asian Environment. Dr Watkins also spoke about the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission which is one of the biggest collaboration between the two space agencies. He shared that the mission involves building a a satellite that will “effectively make a time-lapse movie of the earth” while keeping a close eye on disturbances in the ecosystem, ice-sheet collapses and natural hazards. He averred that India US partnership will establish a pathway for future joint missions.
Speaking on Earth Science and Applications, Dr. Diane Evans said that Earth is a complex planet and scientists try to understand it through scientific knowledge. She mentioned that since, not every surface of earth could be seen or touched, hence, remote sensing is used to detect and classify objects on Earth, including on the surface and in the atmosphere and oceans, based on propagated signals. Talking about sea level trends and water scarcity, she stressed that about 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth's water, out of which 3 percent is fresh water and only 1 percent if fit for consumption. She pointed out the coming changes in earth surface due to water pumping and cautioned that if these changes are not addressed timely then it may cause serious problems toearth and mankind.
During the visit, Dr. Michael Watkins was conferred with Honorary Professorship of Amity University in recognition of his extra ordinary Research and Innovations and exceptional contribution in the field of Jet Propulsion Systems.
During the day, students of Amity international School also interacted with the eminent delegation from NASA wherein they asked pertinent question related to NASA Space Settlement programme, Grace Mission, developing Artificial Gravity,dust issues for space equipment, 2D shaped materials etc. which were very aptly and elaborately answered by the delegation members from NASA.