A star departs for the sky

On Wednesday October 22 the nation woke up to the sad news of the passing of one of the founders of the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO Professor Eknath Vasant Chitnis in Pune aged 100 yearsSarabhai connectDr Chitnis a Padma Bhushan awardee was a close associate of Dr Vikram Sarabhai the founding father of ISRO He lived a remarkable 100 years born on July 25 1925 in Kolhapur Very few people have the honour of celebrating their own birth centenary There are a few parallels to the veritable nationbuilding life that Dr Chitnis lived In his passing India has lost one of the last living links to the founding generation of scientists associated with the Indianspace programmeProf Chitnis left behind a lucrative government job at All India Radio with a salary of R500 per month to join Dr Sarabhai as a voluntary researcher at the Physical Research Laboratory PRL Ahmedabad in its formative years This decision cemented Chitnisrsquos lifelong association with the Indian space programme His long journey from a young physicist studying cosmic rays at PRL to becoming the founding secretary of the Indian National Committee for Space Research INCOSPAR precursor to ISRO and later the architect of ISROrsquos Space Applications Centre SAC was marked by extraordinary achievements that shaped ISRO on its path of becoming the canonical institute it is today loved by all IndiansLiving legendOn Prof Chitnisrsquos birth centenary the National Centre for Science Communicators NCSC had organised a centenary conference at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research IISER in Pune The conference celebrated the life of the lsquoliving legendrsquo As an NCSC member I was part of the planning for this conference which was attended by luminaries from Indias space fraternity The conference underscored the profound impact Dr Chitnis had on ISROrsquos journey As we mourn his passing it is fitting to reflect on his remarkable contributions to the Satellite Instruction Television Experiment SITE programme which changed the social fabric of rural India Chitnis was a bridge between the vision that Dr Sarabhai had to bring regarding the applications of space technology to the people of India and its implementation in uplifting society The conference also showcased the predominant role played by Dr Chitnis in the founding of ISRO and its precursor INCOSPARLaunch siteDr Chitnis was instrumental in identifying Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram as the site for the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station TERLS from where the journey of ISRO began in those early years The scientific importance of the geographical location of TERLS mdash it lies on the magnetic equator where many interesting phenomena occur in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere mdash helped it become an important centre for extensive scientific collaborations with scientists from the USA France Russia and Japan It was from this place that India blasted off those early sounding rockets and collaborated on scientific experiments with other nations TERLS attracted worldwide interest and laid the foundation for ISROrsquos future space endeavoursThe legacyChitnisrsquos legacy is immortalised by the SITE programme of 197576 Conceived by Sarabhai and implemented by Chitnis in collaboration with NASA SITE was a pathbreaking experiment that used satellite broadcasting to educate and empower rural India Using NASArsquos ATS6 satellite SITE beamed developmental programmes on agriculture health hygiene and education to over 2400 villages in Andhra Pradesh Bihar Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Odisha and Rajasthan The UNESCO report lsquoThe SITE Experiencersquo documented how this programme maximised social impact despite the technical hurdles SITE improved literacy modernised agricultural practices and created awareness about health and family planning SITE was a social revolution which demonstrated how space science could be harnessed for inclusive growth an idea far ahead of its timeA bridgeThe success of SITE directly influenced the expansion of Doordarshan Indiarsquos national broadcaster through the 1970s and 1980s Lessons from SITE shaped the INSAT satellite programme enabling lowcost widespread access to television Within a decade India saw a communication revolution that bridged the urbanrural divide Dr Chitnisrsquos influence was deeply felt by generations of scientists including Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to whom Dr Chitnis was a mentor He recommended Kalamrsquos name for the project director for the SLV 3 Project Dr YS Rajan a longtime ISRO associate and the man who coauthored a book titled lsquoIndia 2020 A Vision for the New Millenniumrsquo with Dr Kalam once observed that ldquothe trinity of Sarabhai Kalam and Chitnis shaped ISROrsquos ethos bridging science with sociology and technology with ethics As we bid farewell to Dr Chitnis let us remember him for the transformational societal benefit he brought to the peopleShivaprasad Khened is former director Nehru Science Centre NSC Mumbai