India’s 1st Commercial Space Situational Awareness Observatory to be set up in Garhwal, Uttarakhand

India’s 1st Commercial Space Situational Awareness Observatory: Uttarakhand’s Garhwal region is all set to be home to India’s first commercial space situational awareness observatory. The observatory will be developed by Bengaluru-based start-up Digantara and will be used to track satellites and space debris. The Space Situational Awareness Observatory will be used to monitor space activity which includes space debris that is floating in the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) and the Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). Apart from this, it will also add to India’s capability to locate and track military satellites hovering over the region.

Sharing the news about the new observatory being set up in the state, 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."

Importance of Space Situational Awareness Observations

According to the details shared by Digantara, India’s 1st Commercial Space Situational Awareness Observatory which is being set up in Uttarakhand will be able to track objects as small as 10 cm in size orbiting the earth. The observatory will help India establish itself as a key player in the space debris monitory sector, which is currently dominated by the USA. Currently, there is a major gap in the global SSA Observation Network, especially in Australia and the southern Africa region. The India-based SSA Observatory will enable the country to monitor space activity in this region to safeguard its national interest. The SSA Observatory will give India indigenous capabilities to monitor space activity over the subcontinent providing a strategic advantage.

Technologically Advanced Observatory

The SSA Observatory being developed in Uttarakhand will be able to monitor events occurring in deep space. This would include monitoring space debris and satellite activity in geostationary, medium-Earth, and high-Earth orbits. The observatory will also be assisted by a ground-based sensor network, which will lead to more accurate observations and help predict the precise location, speed and trajectories of space debris. This will help avoid collisions between commercial, military and experimental satellites that are hovering above the country, in the region.