NEW DELHI: Space minister Jitendra Singh, who released a report on the socio-economic impacts on Indian space programmes and data on Chandrayaan-3 on National Space Day, said on Friday that India not only became the first to reach Mars in one go and first to land on the Moon’s south pole but “will also become the first in the world to launch a technology for a zero orbital debris mission”.
“By 2030, all Indian satellites will be launched under the zero orbital debris mission. The debris generated during a launch mission will be retrieved and brought back to Earth, hence reducing debris in space,” the minister told TOI. Singh also said that a facility in Bengaluru has come up that tracks space debris and gives visuals of real-time movement of space debris.
Adding to what the minister’s said on the sidelines of National Space Day, Isro chairman S Somanath told TOI, “Almost 20,000 space debris are being tracked on a regular basis by this facility. This helps us track them and see if they are on a collision course with our satellites, thus helps us manoeuvre our satellites away from them in time. So, operating satellites, dead satellites and junk are being tracked by this facility. Anything above the size of 10 cm is being monitored.”
Somanath said that India is monitoring these debris through mathematical models to “follow and predict these debris. We are also participating in an international effort for a better prediction about these space debris”.
The minister also said in 10 years, the Indian space economy is expected to grow from $8 billion to $44 billion. A new report released on Friday suggested that for every rupee spent on Isro, the return on investment has been of the order of 2.54. It also said the gross value added by the Indian space sector between 2014 and 2023 was $60 billion, and in the next 10 years, it can go up to $89 billion to $131 billion depending on the forecasting scenarios.
A thread posted by the govt on National Space Day said Isro has launched a record 431 foreign satellites till 2024—396 of those 431 launched in the last 10 years; India’s space budget rose from Rs 5,615 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 13,042 in 2024-25, profits via space venture jumped from Rs 314 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 2,940 crore in 2022-23 and over 300 startups emerged after the opening up of the space sector in 2020.
“By 2030, all Indian satellites will be launched under the zero orbital debris mission. The debris generated during a launch mission will be retrieved and brought back to Earth, hence reducing debris in space,” the minister told TOI. Singh also said that a facility in Bengaluru has come up that tracks space debris and gives visuals of real-time movement of space debris.
Adding to what the minister’s said on the sidelines of National Space Day, Isro chairman S Somanath told TOI, “Almost 20,000 space debris are being tracked on a regular basis by this facility. This helps us track them and see if they are on a collision course with our satellites, thus helps us manoeuvre our satellites away from them in time. So, operating satellites, dead satellites and junk are being tracked by this facility. Anything above the size of 10 cm is being monitored.”
Somanath said that India is monitoring these debris through mathematical models to “follow and predict these debris. We are also participating in an international effort for a better prediction about these space debris”.
The minister also said in 10 years, the Indian space economy is expected to grow from $8 billion to $44 billion. A new report released on Friday suggested that for every rupee spent on Isro, the return on investment has been of the order of 2.54. It also said the gross value added by the Indian space sector between 2014 and 2023 was $60 billion, and in the next 10 years, it can go up to $89 billion to $131 billion depending on the forecasting scenarios.
A thread posted by the govt on National Space Day said Isro has launched a record 431 foreign satellites till 2024—396 of those 431 launched in the last 10 years; India’s space budget rose from Rs 5,615 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 13,042 in 2024-25, profits via space venture jumped from Rs 314 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 2,940 crore in 2022-23 and over 300 startups emerged after the opening up of the space sector in 2020.