New Delhi: Around 60 Start-Ups have registered with ISRO since "unlocking" of the Indian Space sector recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and quite a few of them are dealing with projects related to Space debris management. The other Start-Up proposals vary from nano-satellite, launch vehicle, ground systems, research etc.

This was stated by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh while speaking after inaugurating the "ISRO System for Safe & Sustainable Operation" (IS4OM) at ISRO Control Centre, in Bengaluru today.

Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that only last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, during inauguration of IN-SPACe headquarters at Ahmedabad, said, “When the strength of government Space institutions and the passion of India’s private sector will meet, not even the sky will be the limit”.

The Minister reiterated that the passion of private players and innovative Start-Ups will augment the role of the Department of Space in protecting India’s interests in Space by developing all-round capabilities in the domains of space transportation, debris management, infrastructure and applications.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, IS4OM facility will aid India in achieving its SSA (Space Situational Awareness) goals by providing a comprehensive and timely information of the Space environment to users. This multi-domain awareness platform will bring a prompt, accurate and efficient information on on-orbit collision, fragmentation, atmospheric re-entry risk, space based strategic information, hazardous asteroids and space weather forecast.

The Minister emphasized that the facility is conceived with a holistic approach towards ensuring safety and sustainability while reaping the benefits of sustainable utilization of outer space for national development.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, ISRO has been taking necessary measures to safeguard all its Space assets from intentional and accidental close approaches by 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, having overpass over Indian region, intentional manoeuvres with suspicious motives and re-entry within the Indian region.

The Minister further elaborated that IS4OM facility can support all routine operations safeguarding Indian space assets, mitigating collision threats from space objects through specific collision avoidance manoeuvres, information required for strategic purposes and research activities in Space Debris and Space Situational Awareness.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the importance of radars and optical telescopes as the main ground-based facilities for tracking space objects including space debris needs to be highlighted, as accurate orbital information from such ground-based sensors is a prerequisite for mitigating any collision threats to an operational space asset from other objects. The backbone of the SSA system is the network of observational facilities in which the nation is lagging behind other space faring nations. It is required to set up necessary Indian observational facilities for a meaningful and value added SSA system development and alerts generation, the Minister added.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, given the ubiquitous applications of Space technology in day-to-day life, the Long-Term Sustainability (LTS) of Outer Space activities is of paramount importance to ensure that the outer Space remains utilizable to the future generations of mankind. He added that effective management of safe and sustainable operations in outer Space entails a holistic approach encompassing multiple areas related to observation and monitoring of space objects and space environment, processing observations for orbit determination, object characterization and cataloguing, analysis of evolution of space environment, risk assessment and mitigation, data exchange and collaboration.

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