The Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) headquartered at Ahmedabad in Gujarat, has authorised two Indian private firms, Dhruva Space Private Limited in Hyderabad (Telangana) and Digantara Research and Technologies Private Limited in Bengaluru (Karnataka), to launch their payloads into space.
- They are the first set of space start-ups to receive the authorization, signalling the commencement of private space sector launches in India.
- The payloads would be launched by the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C53 (PSLV-C53) on June 30, 2022.
The first two authorized payloads for launch are:
i.Dhruva Space Satellite Orbital Deployer (DSOD 1U), a technology demonstration payload from Dhruva Space.
ii.ROBust Integrating Proton Fluence Meter (ROBI), a proton dosimeter payload from Digantara.
Mission PSLV-C53
i.The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch PSLV-C53, its 55th mission, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 18:00 IST (Indian Standard Time) on June 30, 2022.
- The PSLV-C53 mission will demonstrate the indigenously designed CubeSat Deployers ahead of the launch of our satellite missions, Thybolt-1 and Thybolt-2, onboard the PSLV-C54 mission.
ii.Dhruva Space will demonstrate its satellite deployer technology, which in the future can be deployed for international customers.
- This will also allow Dhruva Space to support international clients with CubeSat Deployers, Integration, and Launch Services.
- Dhruva Space is a start-up in the space technology industry that develops application-neutral satellite platforms and full-stack space engineering solutions.
- CEO of Dhruva Space – Sanjay Nekkanti.
iii. Digantara will launch a weather satellite with its patented technology that will be used for weather monitoring from space.
- It also intends to deliver accurate orbital insights to ensure continued safe space operations.
- Digantara develops end-to-end solutions for safe and sustainable space operations using its Space Situational Awareness sensor network, platform, and data products.
- CEO and Co-founder of Digantara – Anirudha N Sharma.
NRSC Organizes 3-Day Training Course On ‘Bhuvan’ Portal Utilisation
The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), an ISRO organisation, has organized a free three-day training course on the utilization of “Bhuvan” portal scheduled on July 12–14, 2022.
- It targets to empower undergraduate and postgraduate students, professionals in government organisations, start-ups, private firms etc.
Bhuvan: ISRO’s Geoportal
The national Geoportal of ISRO, Bhuvan (meaning Earth in Sanskrit), showcases Indian Earth Observation capabilities from the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) series of satellites.
- It offers a wide range of services, including satellite data visualisation, thematic maps, query and analysis, free data downloads and products, near real-time disaster services, crowdsourcing apps, and a variety of geospatial applications. Additionally, it helps the ministries that use ‘G-Governance’ applications.
Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe):
IN-SPACe is an autonomous, single-window nodal agency under the Department of Space (DOS). It was established to promote, authorize, monitor, and supervise space activities and the use of DOS-owned facilities by Non-Governmental Private Entities (NGPEs) in India, as well as to prioritise the launch manifest.
- Chairman – Pawan Kumar Goenka
- Headquarters – Ahmedabad, Gujarat
