After the launch of Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) quitely initiated ¡®Project NETRA¡¯ which is an ¡®early warning system in space to detect debris and other hazards to Indian satellites¡¯.
Reportedly, the estimated cost of the project is ?400 crore, and once it is in place, it will give India capability in space situational awareness (SSA) like the other space powers. SSA is used to ¡®predict threats from debris to Indian satellites.¡¯
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Dotted Yeti
According to The Hindu, ¡®SSA will first be for low-earth orbits or LEO which have remote-sensing spacecraft. Under NETRA, or Network for space object Tracking and Analysis, the ISRO plans to put up many observational facilities: connected radars, telescopes; data processing units and a control centre. They can, among others, spot, track and catalogue objects as small as 10 cm, up to a range of 3,400 km and equal to a space orbit of around 2,000 km'.
Space debris constitutes particles or pieces of dead satellites or rockets, that continue to stay in the orbit. Imagine it to be floating garbage in the space, which can potentially harm the live satellites.?
ISRO Chairman K. Sivan had reportedly said ¡®NETRA effort would make India a part of international efforts towards tracking, warning about and mitigating space debris.¡¯
Clearly India is serious about its space missions and is building up an International image in the process.?