Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first LED dome planetarium and a Data Analysis Training and Astronomy Resource Centre (DATARC) in Mysuru on Friday, adding a major science-education facility to the city’s institutional landscape. The facilities have been established under the Cosmology Education and Research-Training Centre (COSMOS) project at the foot of Chamundi Hill.
Speaking after the inauguration, Modi said spirituality and science had worked together in serving humanity in India for centuries. He cited the use of Indian Space Research Organisation technologies to alert and rescue fishermen and support farmers in accessing crop insurance.
The planetarium and DATARC have been built on a three-acre plot at the Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Centre for Higher Learning campus of the University of Mysore. The Rs 116 crore project includes Rs 5 crore from the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme funds of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with support from the Union Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Atomic Energy.
The facility will be managed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. The DATARC component is intended to support data analysis training and astronomy-related learning, while the LED dome planetarium will provide students and visitors with an immersive setting to understand astronomical subjects. The report did not specify the opening schedule, visitor capacity, ticketing arrangements or academic programmes for the facility.
Modi linked the new centre to Mysuru’s longer history as an education and research hub. He referred to the role of the Wadiyar Maharajas in establishing institutions such as the University of Mysore and the Indian Institute of Science, saying those institutions had helped groom generations of intellectuals and scientists.
He also compared the purpose of the new planetarium with that of the Viveka Smaraka and Swami Vivekananda Cultural Youth Centre, which he said he had visited in Mysuru on August 1. While the cultural centre was intended to support personality development and encourage young people to understand their inner selves, he said the planetarium and DATARC would help them understand the universe.
The Prime Minister cited ancient Indian astronomers, including Aryabhata, Varahamihara, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara and Nilakantha Somayaji, and said their observations and calculations had contributed to scientific calendars and accurate predictions of solar and lunar eclipses. He urged that knowledge be made accessible to students and young people as part of the goal of building a developed India by 2047.
The inauguration was accompanied by a road show from Lalitha Mahal Helipad to the planetarium via Lalitha Mahal Road. Governor Sudha Yadav, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy and Mysuru MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar were present.
The new facility places science outreach within Mysuru’s existing university and research ecosystem. Its next operational milestones will depend on how the Indian Institute of Astrophysics structures public access, training programmes and engagement with schools and higher-education institutions.
