August 23 to be celebrated as National Space Day, Govt issues notification

The Union Government has also decided to open space technology teaching centres at higher education institutes across the country in line with the first two that have come up in Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

India will celebrate August 23 as National Space Day to mark the success of Chandrayaan-3 soft landing on the Moon, the Department of Space has said in an official notification, presumably to encourage more public participation in space related activities.

Also, the Union Government has decided to open space technology teaching centres at higher education institutes across the country in line with the first two that have come up in Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the students and academia at Jammu, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the Centre launched a mission to open space technology teaching centres in higher educational institutions.

The first two such centres have come up at the Central University of Jammu and the National Institute of Technology, Agartala.

Singh said India’s space economy was projected to grow beyond $ 40 Billion by 2040 from the existing level of $ 8 billion. "Also there is a report from Arthur D Little that says India’s space economy has the potential to go beyond $100 Billion by 2040," he said.

Singh's comments came a day after the government notified August 23, the day Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on the moon, as National Space Day, following an announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after the historic feat.

"The Government of India has declared the 23rd Day of August of every year as the National Space Day to commemorate this historic moment," said a notification issued by the Department of Space dated October 13.

India has become the fourth nation in the world to land a spacecraft on the moon and the first to land near the south pole of the lunar surface. The Vikram lander had also deployed the Pragyan rover on the moon to study the lunar surface.

While India and Japan are now in talks for a joint lunar mission, scientists and engineers at the ISRO have also begun preparatory work for a lunar sample return mission.

Earlier the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government announced celebrating May 11 as the National Technology Day to mark the success of Pokhran-II nuclear tests.