India Boosts Telescope Infrastructure with Upgrades and New Facilities

BENGALURU: In her 9th consecutive Budget presentation, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced funds for upgrading the Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) at Hanle, Ladakh, besides establishing the National Large Solar Telescope (NLST), the National Large Optical Infrared Telescope (NLOIT) and the COSMOS2 Planetarium as part of boosting the country’s telescope infrastructure. Experts in the Department of Science and Technology said the HCT celebrates its silver jubilee this year, and it was the main telescope so far, needing upgradation in secondary and control systems among others. “We had sought robotic telescopes, larger range lenses and even addition of more telescopes. The NLOIT, the largest telescope of India with a range of 8–13 metres was proposed to be set up in Digpa Rasta Ri, now known as Mount Saraswati, in Ladakh. It was designed with remote operation capability and optical and infrared sensing.