Article Posted on : - Jan 30, 2010

THRISSUR (BNS): Former President A P J Abdul Kalam has said ISRO should take steps to bring down the cost of the payload of a space craft from USD 2,000 per kg now.

"One of the main challenges before the space agency was to bring down considerably the cost of the payload from its existing price," Kalam said on Friday in his inaugural address at a reception accorded to ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan at his native place at nearby Irinjalakuda.

Addressing the gathering, Radhakrishnan said discovery of water molecule in the moon was major achievement of the organisation. ISRO's achievements have given the organisation a prominent place in the space map of the world, he said.

Research will have to go a long way in finding answers to several intricacies of space. India would be one of the fully developed countries in the world by 2020, he added.

The main objective of ISRO's research was to help common man find solutions to problems being confronted by him in his daily life, he said.