Journalism of Courage
A team of four at Abasaheb Garware Arts and Science College here is working on a major research project sanctioned by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The project aims to split carbon dioxide into oxygen and organic molecules,which could prove useful for future manned missions to Mars.
Mars is believed to have around 95 per cent carbon dioxide within its atmosphere. If we have to plan a manned mission to Mars in future,there has to be a sustained supply of oxygen during such long sojourns,especially during the return journey. The opulence of carbon dioxide on Mars can be aptly used to fulfil the human need for oxygen,if we can split carbon dioxide. We are developing the process for the same under an ISRO- sanctioned project, said associate professor Shobha Waghmode,who is principal investigator of the project.
As a part of the project,Waghmode and her team have been developing a process to split carbon dioxide by using metal complexes which are synthetic model compounds of enzymes involved in photosynthesis. Assistant professor Vidya Kalyankar and two students Priyanka Dagade and Pooja Chavan,who have completed their MSc,are associated with Waghmode in the research project.
ISRO,through its Space Technology Cell set up at the University of Pune (UoP),has sanctioned the project for a two-year tenure (2013-2015) with a financial outlay of more than Rs 9 lakh.
In January this year,we received the initial installment of the grant and we have synthesised a few complexes that will react with carbon dioxide. During the next phase of research,we will be actually reacting carbon dioxide with model compounds of photosynthesis to carry out the split. Our research work could prove useful for future manned missions to Mars,which ISRO might plan after successful completion of the recently-launched Mars mission, said Waghmode.
The Garware college principal said good infrastructure and latest research instruments available in his college labs would ensure required support for the ISRO-sanctioned project.
Speaking to Newsline,M C Uttam,honorary director of ISRO-UoP Space Technology Cell and visiting ISRO scientist,said the findings of the research project would be shared with experts associated with the country’s space missions.
ISRO provides financial support for conducting research and development activities related to space science,space technology and space application in universities and academic institutions across India. The developments are monitored by experts. These projects are also like a capacity building exercise,which proves handy for the scientists concerned in ISRO, he said.
Established through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between ISRO and UoP in 1998,the ISRO-UoP Space Technology Cell encourages joint research programmes in more than 10 different areas besides space research. It periodically invites research proposals from teachers in these areas,which are funded by ISRO.
