Space domain opening up to wider talent pool: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla

The domain of astronauts, presently restricted to Indian Air Force test pilots, will be opened up for aspirants from other branches of the armed forces and different disciplines in the future, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to travel to the International Space Station, said.

Addressing students at the India International Science Festival, 2025, Shukla said the move will enable a greater number of persons to participate in India’s space programmes. He added that it was a collective responsibility to take the country forward in its space programme.

Pointing out that India already has programmes like a manned space station and a human landing on the Moon underway, he said unlike 1960s, when we will go to space, we will have a sustained presence and this will involve enabling of long-duration space missions, development of key technology and creating a scientific and industrial infrastructure around it.

Talking about his mission, Shukla said space was very disorienting, but also a lot of fun. “When you travel to space again, it gives you a very unique perspective, forces you to solve problems because it is an environment where life should not be existing. There is no air, there is no water, there is no protection from radiation, but you not only sustain life, but you also thrive there and you conduct science,” he said.

“You have brain fog, headaches, nausea. You do not feel hungry because everything inside your stomach is also floating. So your stomach feels full all the time. You also grow taller in space by 5-10 cm, but when you come back to earth, you’re back to your original height,” he said.

The Group Captain said when one gets to space, they do not have an idea of up or down, left or right, adding, “You just forget about it because there is no gravity. So, even if you are upside down, you do not realize that.”

“The concept of space also changes, where it is like a three dimensional hall, whereas on Earth we do not use the 3D space but use 2D. The other interesting concept is the concept of weightlessness. There is only mass, but no weight,” he said.

He also spoke about psychological challenges like confined space and stressful environment that you have to address.

“For the first time we were able to conduct microgravity research and bring back the data and analyse it. The other experiments were for solving problems of food security. Then we also took seeds to see the effect of microgravity. They have been brought back and they will be evolved for five generations to see what changes they go through when they experience microgravity,” he said.

“You have to create the experiments in a way that they can be done in space because the environment is really different. I think learning this part was the biggest lesson for us, for the country. I think we have learned this ecosystem and now we know how to do it,” Shukla said.

Innovation on display — charge mobiles while pedalling bicycle

Now, people will have the option to charge their mobile phones or laptops while burning calories on an exercise bicycle.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed technology that enables conversion of physical activity into electrical energy.

Christened Viduy Swasthya, the innovative technology was demonstrated at the India International Science Festival here on Saturday.

“The equipment transforms pedalling energy into clean, usable electricity to charge smartphones and other personal electronic gadgets using a hybrid nano-generator,” a scientist from the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology said.

According to the information, pedalling the bicycle for 2-3 minutes can charge a battery by about one percent. However, the charging time will also be dependant on the type of mobile phone and the capacity of the battery in the device as well as the level to which the smartphone is already charged.

Meanwhile, the power output would be constant regardless of the intensity of the physical effort put in by the pedaller.

This is because the electric current would flow through an inbuilt inverter. It is suitable for offices,

airports, parks and community spaces.