Assam urges ISRO to set up a regional centre in Guwahati

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 14, 2024

The Assam government on Tuesday urged Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman and space secretary Sridhara Panikar Sumanath to set up a regional centre of ISRO in the state. 

A team of state officials of the science, technology and climate change department led by science and technology minister Keshab Mahanta has submitted a formal proposal to ISRO in this regard. 

Mahanta has visited the ISRO headquarters in Bangalore and held a meeting with ISRO to discuss the setting up of the Network of Space Object Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) project to be set up at Chandrapur in Guwahati. 

The meeting was also attended by Assam Science, Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC) director Dr Joydeep Barua, Assam State Space Applications Center (ASSC) director and special secretary to the science and technology department, PLN Raju and executive director of NSM Dr Manoj Chowdhury were present in the meeting.

Notably, the ISRO has launched ‘Space Situational Awareness’ (SSA) to protect India’s space resources and conduct the country’s space activities safely and sustainably in view of the increasing challenges. 

The ISRO SSA control room, located on the premises of the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Pinya, Bangalore, is responsible for this important space safety function. As part of ISRO’s important ‘Space Situation Awareness’ mechanism for continuous monitoring and analysis of space conditions including accurate monitoring of space objects, the Central government’s Space Research Organization is planning to set up the first ‘Netra’ project centre in the country. 

Mahanta informed the chairman said the Assam government has already allotted 200 bighas of land at Chandrapur for the construction of the Netra centre and is ready to provide all necessary assistance for the construction of the Netra centre in the city.

Responding to Mahanta’s proposal, ISRO chief Somnath said they will arrange a one-year course for interested youth of Assam to provide opportunities to qualified candidates from Assam to gain technical experience so that they can get employment in such space observation projects.

The ISRO will install a phased array radar at a distance of up to 2,000 km from the surface of the earth at the Chandrapur Netra Project, which will play an important role in eliminating threats from space and protecting the country’s space resources in which space objects of a minimum size of 10 cm can also be detected. 

Later, the minister visited the ISRO headquarters premises and also the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network’s mission management premises, Mox Istrac, at Pinya. 

Mahanta also visited ISRO’s India Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu in Ramnagar district along with ASTEC director Dr Jaideep Barua and ASSAC director PLN Raju. 

The IDSN at Byalalu has been playing a key role in controlling the spacecraft used by ISRO in interplanetary space missions like India’s lunar mission and Mars mission as well as providing mission communication support.