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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has decided to set up an atmospheric studies centre near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. The new facility will focus on advanced atmospheric studies. The news of world class facility for atmospheric studies was revealed by the chief of ISRO, G. Madhavan Nair. The ISRO chief also informed that a centre for training Indian astronauts has been planned to be set up around Bangalore. The centre for training astronauts was recommended by the Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy while congratulating the ISRO fraternity on the successful launch of Chandrayaan-I.
The chief minister also assured to offer proper land in Anantapur district for the establishment of the astronauts training centre under ISRO's Human Spaceflight Programme (HSP). The National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) of ISRO is already operating at Gadanki, near Tirupati since 1992. The main function of NARL is to conduct researches on atmospheric and space sciences and developing various types of radars and lidars for atmospheric studies. In order to expand its activities a laboratory for developing flight instruments is planned to be set up near Tirupati. The Andhra Pradesh government is likely to allot 20 acres of land for establishing the proposed world class facility for atmospheric studies.
