City professor Dr Nagla to be part of ISRO space robotics experiment

Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, March 19

It was a moment of pride for city-based Dr Kuldeep Singh Nagla who has been selected by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as one of the committee members who will assist the space robotics experiment in the first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan scheduled for 2020.

Dr Nagla, who is serving as an associate professor and head of the Instrumentation and Control Engineering Department at the Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, holds 17 years of experience in the field of robotics and has been part of the NIT, Jalandhar, since 2002.

Talking to The Tribune about the space robotics experiment, an unmanned mission under the Gaganyaan programme, Dr Nagla said prior to the actual launch by 2022, the ISRO would have two unmanned missions.

“The 17-member committee has been formed and I am one of its members. The first unmanned mission will include space robotics experiment in which the members will work upon a plan or proposal to develop human-like robots that will be sent to the space,” he added.

He said the Gaganyaan programme was the first Indian Human Space Flight initiative of the ISRO and to complete the mission, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III rocket would be used to carry the orbital module that would have necessary provisions for sustaining a three-member crew for the duration of a maximum of seven days.

However, before sending the crew in space, it has been planned to experiment two unmanned flights to collect information from space such as temperature and magnetic field radiation, he added.

Dr Nagla said: “It is an honour for me to be a part of India’s first human space project as not everyone gets a chance to share his experience, knowledge and to be a part of a national project.”

Besides, these unmanned missions would provide an ideal opportunity to develop and demonstrate key technologies for space robotics towards the evolution of autonomous human scale robots to support future human space exploration activities with potential spin-offs in many other domains, he added.