Delhi: August 20, 2010: Dr. Kumar Krishen, Senior Scientist & Lead Technologist, Johnson Space Centre, NASA, United States visited Delhi Technological University (DTU), formerly Delhi College of Engineering, today and interacted with the students and faculty members of the University.

An accomplished engineer, manager and educator with over 30 years of experience in academia, government and industry, Dr. Krishen spoke about the ‘Technology needs for future human space mission’ and ‘New Technology Innovations with potentials for space application’, on the occasion. According to him, “There are several overarching constraints in space exploration for the astronauts including performing in extreme environment conditions such as diverse temperature, zero gravity, vacuum, radiation and limited availability of power, among others.” 

Dr. Krishen, who is in India on a vacation, also mentioned Space Radiation as a major issue of concern in space exploration. “It is important to address the risks to human exploration in space such as ionizing radiation, solar particle events and galactic cosmic rays. The possible risks of space radiation involve cancer, damage to central nervous system, cataracts, heart disease etc,” he informed.

Speaking on the ways to reduce cost of space mission, he remarked, “One of the ways to reduce the cost of space mission’s is to recycle and reuse whatever resources are available in the space craft whether it is water, air or food.” He also answered several queries of the students on space exploration.

The talk of Dr. Krishen was attended by Dr. R.K. Sinha, Dean, Industrial Relations, DTU, Prof. Rajiv Kapoor, Head of Department, Electronics & Communication, DTU, Prof. Narendra Kumar, Head of Department, Electrical Engineering, DTU and Prof. Asok Bhattacharya, besides students of varied disciplines like Engineering Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Nanotechnology and Electronics & Communication Engineering to mention some. Dr. Krishen will be again delivering a talk tomorrow at DTU on ‘New Technologies Developed by Small Business’.