The ISRO has developed a system to track active and dead satellites, said ISRO chairman S Somnath. He added that Safe and Sustainable Operations Management will detect space junk formed due to the collision of objects in space.
Somnath was speaking at the National Space Day celebrations held on Friday in Delhi. The National Space Day fete is held to mark the first year anniversary of the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission.
Detailing ISRO's policy against littering in space, Somnath said the system also tracks the movement of unwanted satellites and anything that is above 10 cm in size. "We have created a mathematical model for the same. We can model them, we can understand them, we can predict their movement. We already have certain observational capabilities. And are now trying to expand it," he said. ISRO has vowed to bring satellites back to Earth after the completion of their mission life.
The ISRO chairman reminisced about the Chandrayaan-3 mission and the impact the mission had on the country. He also briefed on the National Space Day celebration held with the participation of departments, ministries, educational institutions, science organisations, NGOs, and the general public.
The event held at Bharath Mandapam Convention Centre in New Delhi also saw President Droupadi Murmu sharing her concern over the space debris as a result of numerous satellites being placed in orbit. "Space debris can cause problems for space missions," she said while lauding ISRO for setting itself a target to make future space missions debris-free by 2030.
The President also appreciated the ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Operations Management Facility, which ensures continuous progress of space research activities.
The event was also attended by Minister of State for the Department of Space, Dr Jitendra Singh. The minister said that the government has set a target of $ 44 billion in revenue by 2032. As per the new report released by a European consulting firm, the space sector generated $60 billion in revenue in the last ten years against an investment of $13 billion.
