Abdul Kalam Space Journey

Kalam started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army, but
remained unconvinced with the choice of his job at DRDO.
Kalam was also part of the INCOSPAR committee working under Vikram Sarabhai, the
renowned space scientist.[9] In 1969, Kalam was transferred to theIndian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) where he was the project director of India's first indigenous Satellite
Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near earth orbit in
July 1980.
Joining ISRO was one of Kalam's biggest achievements in life and he is said to have
found himself when he started to work on the SLV project.
Kalam first started work on an expandable rocket project independently at DRDO in
1965. In 1969, Kalam received the government's approval and expanded the program to include
more engineers.
In 196364, he visited Nasa's Langley Research Center in Hampton Virginia, Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland andWallops Flight Facility situated at Eastern Shore
of Virginia.
During the period between the 1970s and 1990s, Kalam made an effort to develop the
Polar SLV and SLV-III projects, both of which proved to be success.
In the 1970s, Kalam also directed two projects, namely, Project Devil and Project
Valiant , which sought to develop ballistic missiles from the technology of the successful SLV
programme. Despite the disapproval of Union Cabinet, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi allotted
secret funds for these aerospace projects through her discretionary powers under Kalam's
directorship.Kalam played an integral role convincing the Union Cabinet to conceal the true
nature of these classified aerospace projects.
His research and educational leadership brought him great laurels and prestige in 1980s,
which prompted the government to initiate an advanced missile program under his directorship.

Kalam and Dr. V. S. Arunachalam, metallurgist and scientific adviser to the Defense
Minister, worked on the suggestion by the then Defense Minister, R. Venkataraman on a proposal
for simultaneous development of a quiver of missiles instead of taking planned missiles one by
one.R Venkatraman was instrumental in getting the cabinet approval for allocating 388 crore
rupees for the mission, named Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (I.G.M.D.P) and
appointed Kalam as the Chief Executive.
Kalam played a major part in developing many missiles under the mission including
Agni, an intermediate range ballistic missile and Prithvi, the tactical surface-to-surface missile,
although the projects have been criticised for mismanagement and cost and time overruns.
He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of Defence
Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999.
The Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period where he played an
intensive political and technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along
with R. Chidambaram during the testing phase. Photos and snapshots of him taken by the media
elevated Kalam as the country's top nuclear scientist.
In 1998, along with cardiologist Dr.Soma Raju, Kalam developed a low cost Coronary
stent. It was named as "Kalam-Raju Stent" honouring them.
In 2012, the duo, designed a rugged tablet PC for health care in rural areas, which was
named as "Kalam-Raju Tablet".
Science and Environment
Heres a brief rundown on how technology dates back from Stone Age, when man first
discovered how to make fire. This very first technology and its impact on natural environment
brought greenhouse gas emissions which accumulated through more than a million years of
widespread use of fire.
The cavemen learned how to make fire that provided them heat, light and protection against the
wild animals that attacked them. They needed something to illuminate the darkness and to
provide warmth when the great big ball of fire started to disappear from the sky. The cavemens

first technological tools were stone axes and spears which were used as protection and hunting
implements. Henceforth, succeeding steps were taken to improve what was initially invented.
This further made mans living conditions better and can be called technological advancements.
The impact of technology on the environment back then was not too significant because it was
mainly utilized to improve the supply of mans basic needs.
As years passed, technological advancement was no longer confined to the mere purpose of
meeting mans needs for food, clothing and shelter. Different forms of technological
developments described the era of each civilization. It started from Stone Age and was elevated
to the Bronze Age and finally reached the Iron Age, which brought technological advancements
in weaponry.
Neighboring countries and regions came to wage war against each other and often the victor was
the one with better technology as far as weapons were concerned. Even today, major countries
spend billions of dollars for warfare technology to ensure that no foreign leader or ruler can
invade and claim a country or territory as his own. Thus, the negative impact of technology on
the environment began to surface as more of the Earths natural resources and ecological habitats
were being depleted or disrupted.
Advancements in technology also brought the finer things in life, making it necessary for man to
accelerate his economic growth. Technology was used to speed up production and manufacture
of goods, to provide better transport and delivery as well as make the methods of communication
not only faster but also, far reaching. Trade and commerce flourished at faster rates due to
technological advancements and brought about globalization. As trade and commerce grew, the
more it heightened the impact of technology on natural environment wherein air, land and water
reached certain degrees of pollution, degradation and contamination.
On a brighter side, new technology brought about what will be known in mans history as the
Computer Age. This era will become significant not only in greatly improving trade and
commerce but also in bringing forth instruments that will lessen the accumulated negative effects
of technology on the Earths natural resources.

Green technology has come up with better solutions of generating heat and energy. The suns
powerful UV rays are being harnessed through solar panels instead of the wood burning process.
The kinetic powers of wind and water currents are being utilized to produce electricity that can
lessen the demands for coal and fossil fuels.
Present day Green technology is decisively geared at lessening if not reversing all the negative
impacts of technology since millions of people especially children have come to develop
respiratory diseases as chronic illness. In fact in China, wood burning is still prevalent among
millions of the country's households. The Asia Asthma Development Board ranks China as
having the highest record of fatalities of its nation's asthma sufferers. These accumulated impacts
started as far back as 1.4 millions years ago when cavemen discovered how to make fire and
made use of wood as fuel. Today, as China's factories and communities continue to rely on coal
as its main source of energy, it is expected that out of 100,000 Chinese citizens suffering from
asthma, 36.7 are not expected to survive.