When tradition meets technology, stories like that of Govind Krishnan M emerge, where deep-rooted cultural learning complements cutting-edge science. A native of Kannur, Kerala, Govind is set to join the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), the premier arm of ISRO based in Thiruvananthapuram. Unlike his peers from the Vedic path who chose priesthood, Govind took a different route—one that merges ancient knowledge with modern space science.

“There’s a common belief that Vedic education restricts career growth or doesn’t align with science,” Govind reflects. “But my journey shows that both can coexist. With discipline and balance, it’s possible to embrace both spirituality and science.”

Govind’s educational path defies convention. After completing Grade 4 at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Payyannur, in 2011, he left mainstream schooling to join a gurukula at Bhramaswam Madham, Thrissur. Over four intensive years completing a five-year course in less time he immersed himself in Vedic study.

The decision to pursue Vedic education was influenced by his father, Hareesh Kumar, a former Indian Navy officer who retired voluntarily in 2009. After years of relocating across naval bases in cities like Kochi, Mumbai, and Lonavala, the family returned to their hometown Kaithapram in Kannur. Govind’s sacred thread ceremony (upanayanam) took place while he was still in school, marking the beginning of his spiritual training.

“The initial phase was challenging—I was away from home for the first time,” Govind recalls. “There were five of us in my batch, and we studied the Yajurveda. There were no textbooks or visuals—everything was passed down orally from the guru. It was a life of discipline.”

He attended a nearby government school only for exams, focusing primarily on Vedic learning. His day began at 5 a.m., packed with chanting, rituals, and a tightly scheduled routine. It wasn’t until the fifth year that he resumed regular schooling, enrolling in Vivekodayam Boys Higher Secondary School, Nadakkavu, for Grades 8 to 10—all while continuing his gurukula life.

His daily schedule remained intense: Vedic classes until early morning and late evening, followed by academic studies until nearly midnight. Despite this demanding routine, Govind scored top grades in his 10th board exams. He then left the gurukula and joined Alva’s College in Moodbidri, Mangaluru, for his higher secondary education, simultaneously preparing for competitive entrance exams.

Govind succeeded in clearing both JEE Main and Advanced, securing admission to the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram. He enrolled in the BTech Electronics and Communication program in 2021.

Even after leaving the gurukula, Govind continued his spiritual routines. “I maintain at least an hour a day for what I’ve learned,” he says. “Just like people go to the gym for physical fitness, I train my mind—for focus, clarity, and memory.”

While his batchmates pursued priesthood due to family traditions, Govind charted a new course. Though he knows basic rituals like Ganapathihomam and Thevaram, he clarifies that temple priesthood requires specific training beyond Vedic study.

Now, selected through ISRO’s Centralised Recruitment Board (ICRB), which includes rigorous testing and interviews, Govind is preparing to start his new role in July. He hopes to continue his spiritual practices even as he steps into his scientific career.

“In the future, I’d love to teach young minds what I’ve learned,” he says. “The Vedas have given me more than knowledge—they’ve given me strength and direction.”

Govind’s family remains rooted in humble aspirations. His father now works at a private bank in Kannur, his mother Suja is pursuing a BA in Music, and his twin sister, Gayathri, is employed as a physiotherapist in Mumbai.

Govind’s story stands as a powerful testament to how ancient Indian wisdom and modern science can not only coexist but thrive together.

(With Inputs From onmanorama)

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The Defence Ministry on Tuesday (March 22) has cleared a Rs 4,000 crore proposal by the Indian Army that has asked for a dedicated surveillance satellite to keep an eye on the borders with China and Pakistan.

“The Defence Acquisition Council meeting on Tuesday cleared the proposal for a made in India dedicated satellite for the Indian Army. The project for the satellite GSAT-7B will be carried out in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and would help the Indian Army enhance its surveillance in border areas,” government sources told ANI.

The Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force (IAF) already have dedicated satellites of their own and this approval will help the Indian Army to achieve situational awareness capability.

Information is power and after the post-military standoff with china starting-May 2020, the Indian Army has been working towards upgrading capabilities along and strengthening its surveillance assets is being viewed as an important part of operations and now it the Army is operating drones along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

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As India nears its goal to put the first Indian in space under the project Gaganyaan, Australia has decided to extend its support by tracking it through Cocos Keeling island, Deputy Head Australia Space Agency Anthony Murfett said on Monday.

Speaking at the International Space Conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Murfett said, “space cooperation between the two countries is on an upswing and the space agencies of India and Australia have recently updated their Memorandum of Understanding. We are going to be supporting this Gaganyaan mission by tracking through Australia’s territory on the Cocos Keeling islands,”.

Earlier this year, The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Sivan had said the Indian space agency holding talks with the Australian counterpart if they would allow the ground station at the Cocos Keeling islands to track the Gaganyaan mission.

Having access to such crucial relay stations is important to track satellites in orbit because they cannot pass along their information to the ground stations on Earth unless they have a clear view of the ground station. 

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In the Communist-ruled Indian state of Kerala, a group of workers and local people in the capital Thiruvananthapuram yesterday (5 September) blocked a truck belonging to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) demanding a “gawking charge” or “nokku kooli “of ₹10 lakh, reports Hindustan Times.

The so-called workers who have ties with trade unions in the state stopped a truck that was laden with heavy equipment and was headed towards Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), which is a key wing of ISRO.

As per VSSC officials, the truck was held hostage for more than four hours and upon no resolution, VSSC had to reach out to take the help of  Chief Minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan’s office, and thereafter, State’s Labour Minister V Sivankutty intervention got the truck the permission to go through.

But even after the state government intervention, it took several rounds of talks and protests for the matter to be resolved as the workers compromised with national security.

It should be noted that this incident took place came just three days after the Kerala High Court had pulled up the State Government for not effectively implementing the law to get rid of the strange practice called ‘nokku kooli’ which means gawking wages.

The court had said, “The practice is damaging the image of Kerala. It should be eradicated. It gives a wrong perception about the state. It should be corrected.”

The practice was abolished by the Kerala government in 2018, however, it is still widely practiced in the state where people are charged by licensed members of the headload workers for not doing any work and has the backing of militant trade unions and it has been called as extortion by registered trade unions.

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Mariam Rasheeda, the Maldivian woman and co-accused in the infamous Indian Space Research Organistion (ISRO) spy case has completely exonerated Dr Nambi Narayanan.

Rasheeda Narayanan, India’s leading scientist in cryogenic technology at the time, claims that she was unfairly implicated in the “espionage episode” and that the entire incident was fabricated by officials and politicians at higher levels.

Narayanan was ultimately able to clear his image after the courts found him not guilty and the allegations were dismissed, and he received compensation, she added.

Now, Mariam Rasheeda has produced documents revealing that Nambi Narayanan was not part of the team researching cryogenic technology and that the program scientists, R Karunanidhi and K Lakshminarayana, were replaced with Muhammad Muslim and M Annamalai.

IPS officer Siby Mathews who headed the investigation has now submitted a bail application in the court to prevent arrest by CBI.

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The Modi government’s “Look East” policy received a boost as India is building a Mega Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Ground Station in Vietnam for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. 

India which has been supplying the Covid-19 vaccine to neighboring countries is now building space cooperation among the ASEAN countries. Work has started on a ground station to be established in Vietnam’s payload data reception, processing, and dissemination facility.

This is now seen as space diplomacy as India aims to provide a reliable operational space-based system for remote sensing over the ASEAN countries like Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

The proposed facility for the ground station would be built on four hectares of land at My Phuoc 3 industrial park, in Binh Doung province of Vietnam and this facility will have a 11m antenna installed by ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network(ISTRAC).

The estimated cost for the project is 86 billion Vietnamese dollars and work will be completed in 18 months. 

This facility once finished will be very helpful for ISRO which already has ground stations in Bengaluru, Lucknow, Mauritius, Sriharikota, Port Blair, Thiruvananthapuram, Brunei, Biak.

The idea of a ground station in Vietnam was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 at the India ASEAN meeting at Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar and in the following year, India told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) its vision of the free and open Indo-Pacific region.

This particular initiative has been called India’s space diplomacy wherein India conducts foreign affairs and advances its national interests by joining like-minded countries in the ASEAN region and counter global powers who are exercising their hegemony. 

India has proposed to support ASEAN countries to receive the data from RESOURCESAT 2 and OCEANSAT 2 that will be very helpful for countries that are in the South China Sea region.

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Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) using its workhorse, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C50) has started the countdown for the launch of communication satellite CMS-01 on Wednesday (December 16).

This will be the PLSVs 52nd mission and the liftoff is scheduled at 3.41 pm on December 17 (Thursday) from the second launch pad at the spaceport of Sriharikota, ‘subject to weather conditions’.

“Countdown for the launch of PSLV-C50/CMS01 mission commenced today at 1441hrs from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR Sriharikota. Launch is scheduled tomorrow at 1541 Hrs IST,” ISRO said. It also added, “Filling of fuel for the fourth stage (PS4) of PSLV-C50 completed.”

CMS-01 is the 42nd communication satellite that will provide services in Extended-C Band of the frequency spectrum covering India, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.

PSLV-C50 is the 22nd flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration and it follows the successful launch of PSLV-C49 (EOS-01) earth observation satellite and nine customer spacecraft on November 7 which was ISRO’s first mission of the year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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India which is all set to send its first manned mission to space is getting closer by the day as the four Indian astronaut-elects who are undergoing training in Russia are now set to enter the last leg of the training of Gaganyaan space programme, reports Times of India.

Russian Glavkosmos confirmed that the four astronaut-elects who are being trained by it shall return to India by the end of March 2021.

Glavkomos and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s Human Spaceflight Centre (HSFC) has an agreement to help train the four Indian Air Force (IAF)’s test pilots for the maiden space flight.

The four pilots have already completed training on crew actions in case of an abnormal descent module landing in the forest and marshy areas in winter (February 2020), on the water surface (June 2020), and in the steppe in summer (July 2020).

They have also completed training in short-term weightlessness mode on board the Il-76MDK laboratory aircraft (June 2020).

The astronauts have also been trained to lift aboard a helicopter while evacuating from the descent module landing point (July 2020).

The final phase of there training will commence in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune after they return from Russia. 

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In a significant development, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch its Venus mission in 2025 in partnership with French space agency CNES.

The VIRAL (Venus Infrared Atmospheric Gases Linker) instrument co-developed with the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos and the LATMOS atmospheres, environments and space observations laboratory attached to the French national scientific research centre CNRS has been selected by the ISRO after a request for proposals, it said in a statement.

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Former Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief V K Saraswat and NITI Aayog member on Tuesday (15 September) said that small satellites will dominate the global space sector.

By 2027, around 7,000 small satellites are expected to be launched with a total value of $38 billion (₹2.7 lakh crore). That is why the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch a small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) that will be used exclusively to launch small and nano-satellites.

Saraswat said this during a presentation at the inaugural session of the International Space Conference and Exhibition ‘Ushering the New Era in Indian Space Sector’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, on Tuesday.

India only has a market share of 2% of the global space economy worth $348 billion.

Right now the Indian space economy is valued at $7 billion which is very small and plans are in motion to increase India’s market share.  

From 2012 to 2017, over 1,000  small satellites were launched and the government and commercial sectors are want to capitalise on this.

Saraswat talked about the need to develop a model for the promotion of startups with independent technology ideas. He also said that the Modi government should pay serious attention towards starting a national fund to promote entrepreneurship in the space sector on the lines of US space agency NASA and European Space Agency.

He said, “With no particular, dedicated, independent space commerce assessment body for space-related activities or a dedicated road map within ISRO for commercial space in India, there is a need to establish an ‘Office of Space Commerce’ that is independent of ISRO.”

The Niti Aayog member also mentioned the clear demarcation of space and defence activities as issues around national security will always be a concern when an actor (country) chooses to pursue space activities. He made it clear that national security should not be used as a method to hold back possible commerce possibilities in utilising outer space.

Saraswat also talked about the opening of space-based tourism, space-based energy and power, space manufacturing, asteroid mining and deep space missions. Innovative space technologies, services and business models will be game-changing to the space industry.

He said, “By 2030, the new space economy will find ways we can live sustainably beyond our planet, creating new jobs, companies and opportunities,”.

He cautioned that unless India does not develop a new space economy, the low-cost launch of small satellites into the low-earth orbit which is the focus for international satellite communication worldwide and the absence low-cost connectivity throughout the country it will be impossible to achieve PM Modi’s Digital India target.

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