Digantara , an Indian Space Technology Company incubated at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), basically a space sector start-up of India, is going to set-up India’s first commercial space situational awareness observatory to track objects as small as 10 cm in size orbiting the earth will be set up in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, will help India track any activity in space including that of space debris and military satellites hovering over the region and monitor events occurring in deep space, especially in the geostationary, medium-Earth, and high-Earth orbits. The high-quality observations made will be complemented by observations of its partner ground-based sensor network , “With this data, it would be able to reduce the potential for collisions between satellites and other spacecraft by making more accurate predictions of their location, speed, and trajectory,”
Currently, the United States is a dominant player in monitoring space debris with observatories in multiple locations and commercial companies providing additional inputs from across the world. The high-quality observations, along with those of its partner ground-based sensor network, would help improve its ability to monitor events occurring in deep space, especially in the geostationary, medium-Earth, and high-Earth orbits.
(CEO) of Digantara Anirudh Sharma said, “The observatory in Uttarakhand will fill the crucial gap in SSA observations in the region as there is a lack of such facilities between Australia and southern Africa”, and Sudhir Nautiyal, Director Industries in the Government of Uttarakhand was quoted as saying, “We are proud to support Digantara’s vision and plans in establishing India’s first dedicated Space Situational Awareness (SSA) observatories in Uttarakhand.”
