ISRO Trials With Garuda Aerospace’s Drones For Delivery of Vegetables and Medicines

May 5, 2021: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has trialed drone-based delivery of vegetables, medicines, and spraying of disinfectants at its staff quarters in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. According to a report by The Free Press Journal , Garuda Aerospace’s drones were used for this purpose.

A senior ISRO official reportedly said that the trial delivery and spraying of anti-Covid-19 disinfectants were satisfactory. More than 200 people in the ISRO staff quarters, including ISRO employees and their family members, were affected by Covid-19, so the sanitization work proved to be beneficial too.

Mr. K. Sivan, Secretary, Department of Space and ISRO Chairman said that amidst the rising Covid -19 cases, both ISRO and Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) have been asked to operate with a 50% staff capacity, while the remaining employees will work from home. Only those staff who look after the crucial functional areas have been instructed to work from the office.

The second wave of coronavirus has hit the entire country hard including the various space centres. Figures from ap7am.com have revealed that Covid-19 has claimed the lives of almost 13 employees, including scientists and technical members of SDSC. Thus, other employees have been reluctant to join their respective duties.

Mr. A Rajarajan, SDSC director has urged all employees and their family members to follow the Covid-19 protocols diligently. He also assured that SDSC is well-equipped with testing laboratories, structured tracing strategies, and Covid-19 treatment with critical life saving drugs. The clinical labs are ready to test the samples and declare the results mostly on the same day.