Since the recent ‘unlocking’ of India’s space sector by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, around 60 start-ups have registered with ISRO, and several of them are involved in projects related to space debris management. Other Start-Up designs vary from nanosatellites, launch vehicles, ground systems, research etc.This was stated by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology; Minister of State (Independent Representative) for Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, DrJitendra Singh while speaking after inaugurating ‘ISRO System for Safe & Sustainable Operation’ (IS4OM) at ISRO Command Center in Bengaluru today.
DrJitendra Singh recalled that only last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said during the inauguration of IN-SPAC’s headquarters in Ahmedabad: “When the strength of government space institutions and the passion of the Indian private sector meet, the sky will not meet. be the limit’.The Minister reiterated that the passion of private players and innovative start-ups will strengthen the role of the Ministry of Space in safeguarding India’s space interests by developing versatile capabilities in the areas of space transportation, debris management, infrastructure and applications.
DrJitendra Singh said the IS4OM facility will help India achieve its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) goals by providing users with comprehensive and timely information about the space environment. This multi-domain information platform will deliver fast, accurate and efficient information on orbital collisions, fragmentation, re-entry risk, space strategic information, hazardous asteroids and space weather forecasting. The minister emphasized that the facility is designed with a holistic approach to ensure safety and sustainability while benefiting from the benefits of sustainable use of outer space for national development.
Space Situational Awareness activities
Dr Jitendra Singh said that ISRO is taking necessary measures to protect all its space assets from intentional and accidental close approaches of space objects, including operational spacecraft and space debris objects. He added that Space Situational Awareness activities have many strategic implications such as identifying and monitoring other operational spacecraft with close approaches, overflights over Indian territory, deliberate maneuvers with suspicious motives and re-entry into Indian territory. The minister further clarified that the IS4OM facility can support all routine operations to protect Indian space assets, mitigation of collision threats from space objects through specific collision avoidance maneuvers, information required for strategic purposes and research activities in the field of Space Debris and Space Situational Awareness.
Jitendra Singh said the importance of radars and optical telescopes as the main ground-based devices for tracking space objects including space debris needs to be emphasized as accurate orbital information from such ground-based sensors is a prerequisite to mitigate the threats of any collision. operating space asset from other objects. The backbone of the SSA system is a network of observation facilities in which the nation lags behind other space nations. It is necessary to set up the necessary Indian observation facilities for meaningful development of the SSA system and generation of value-added alerts, the minister added.
DrJitendra Singh said that given the ubiquitous applications of space technology in everyday life, the long-term sustainability (LTS) of space activities is of utmost importance to ensure that space remains usable for future generations of humanity. . He added that effective management of safe and sustainable operations in space involves a holistic approach involving multiple areas related to observing and monitoring space objects and the space environment, processing observations for orbit determination, object characterization and cataloguing, analyzing the evolution of the space environment, risk assessment and mitigation, data exchange and collaboration.
Minister, Department of Space S. Somanath said that space weather monitoring and forecasting infrastructure plays a vital role in protecting both space and ground infrastructure from critical solar activities. On the same level, the detection and prevention of asteroid impacts is essential to human well-being. IS40M’s vision towards space weather services and the planetary defense initiative are also to be important areas of SSA.
Protection of Indian satellites and other equipment in orbit
Ever since the inception of India’s space program, space assets have played a key role in nation building by providing key services in communication, weather and resource monitoring, navigation, etc. However, the ever-increasing space object population including operational satellites and orbital debris and associated collision risks pose a serious a threat to the safe and sustainable use of space. He said the increasing congestion in Earth’s orbits poses an imminent threat of collisions between larger debris that could trigger a separate cascading process of further collisions, known as Kessler syndrome. This could lead to a drastic increase in the population density of space junk, making space inaccessible for future generations.
It may be recalled that for the protection of Indian satellites and other equipment in orbit, ISRO is actively participating in all international efforts to curb the growth of space debris for the long term sustainability of space. He informed that ISRO is an active member of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IDAC), the IAF Working Group on Space Debris, the IAA Working Group on Space Transport Management, the ISO Working Group on Space Debris and the UNCOPUOS Working Group on Long-Term Sustainability – all international organizations contributing to the study of space debris and space situation awareness.
Read Also:Global Focus: President Vladimir Putin warned that he was not serious about the war in Ukraine
