The National Space Science Symposium-2022 (NSSS-2022), scheduled from 31 January to 04 February, 2022, has been inaugurated by Chairman, ISRO / Secretary, DOS on 31 January, 2022, Monday, through an online event.

The NSSS, which is organized once in two years, is a forum of space scientists of India, which provides platform to the researchers in space sciences to exchange the scientific results, review the scientific lessons learnt from the previous missions, and draw the roadmap for future space exploration. NSSS-2022 would address multiple facets of space science like Earth System Science through space-based meteorology, oceanography, Geosphere-Biosphere interactions; dynamics of the middle atmosphere, atmospheric coupling, and climate change; Science of the Sun and the Solar system; extending to Astronomy and Astrophysics. In NSSS-2022, there is a dedicated session on the enabling technologies for space exploration.

ISRO took the lead in organizing the symposium with IISER, Kolkata as the local host. In addition to the regular space science discussions, an outreach component is also initiated with this year’s NSSS involving several competitions for school and college students. A space exhibition, as part of NSSS, to show-case ISRO’s achievements in the fields of space science is currently postponed due to the pandemic. The exhibition will be open for public and students as soon as the situation improves.

Secretary, DOS / Chairman, ISRO inaugurated the symposium. During his inaugural address, Chairman, ISRO emphasized on the importance of the holistic approach for the understanding of space and its components. In this pursuit, Chairman, ISRO mentioned, it is imperative to study the solar system bodies and astronomical sources not only as individual entities, but also the connections between them. He expressed that NSSS-2022 will be an effective platform for the active participation of the academia and institutes to participate in India’s space science exploration programme.

During the inaugural session, Dr M Rajeevan, former Secretary to GoI, Ministry of Earth Sciences, delivered a polular lecture on ‘Climate Change: An Indian Perspective’. The inaugural session was graced by Dr. Saurabh Pal, Director, IISER, Kolkata, Shri A S Kiran Kumar, former Chairman, ISRO and Chairman of the National Organising Committee of NSSS-2022, and Shri Umamaheswaran R, Scientific Secretary, ISRO.

The inaugural session was well-attended virtually by scientists and researchers from all over India.