Hyderabad: “The ISRO is ready to establish a world class facility for advanced atmospheric studies near the temple town Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh,” its chairman G Madhavan Nair informed Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

Madhavan Nair was replying to a message sent by the Chief Minister congratulating the ISRO team on the success of Chandrayaan-I mission.

The Chief Minister, in his message, sought the establishment of a Human Space Programme (Astronaut Training and Bio-medical Engineering Centre) and offered necessary land in Anantapur district close to Bengaluru.

Rajasekhara Reddy said that the land was readily available in Anantapur district close to Bagepalli in Karnataka on NH-7, 69-km away from the new Bengaluru International Airport.

“We are ready to provide required land for this project at a concessional rate and extend all necessary support,” Nair said in the letter the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) of the ISRO that is functioning at Gadanki near Tirupati since 1992 is engaged in fundamental research related to atmospheric and space sciences and developing various types of radars and lidars for atmospheric studies.

“The NARL has proposed to expand its activities towards advanced technology experiments and in this regard a laboratory for developing flight instruments is planned to be set up near Tirupati,” he said.

“We seek a positive response from you to support for getting suitable land of about 20 acres for establishing a world class facility for atmospheric studies,” he added.

The chairman said as part of the ISRO’s initiatives on Human Spaceflight Programme (HSP), a centre for training Indian astronauts has been planned to be set up around Bengaluru in coordination with the Indian Institute of Aviation Medicine.

“We are presently pursuing the approval process of the HSP with the government,” he added.