India has 111 payloads, 105 space debris objects in orbit: Government

• India has 111 payloads and 105 space debris objects orbiting the earth as tracked and catalogued by USSPACECOM
  • S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) is one of the unified commands of the Department of Defence of the US government.
• Space junk or debris consist of spent rocket stages, dead satellites, fragments of space objects and debris resulting from Anti-Satellite Weapons (ASAT). Hurtling at an average speed of 27,000 kmph in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), these objects pose a very real threat of collisions as studied under the Kessler Syndrome.
  • The Kessler Syndrome is a phenomenon in which the density of objects in the Low Earth Orbit grows so high that collisions between two objects could cause a massive cascade.

Space debris safety measures by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO):

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has carried out 21 collision avoidance manoeuvres of Indian Operational Space assets in 2022 to avoid collision threats from other space objects.  Research and studies on the potential and emerging threats from space debris are carried out by ISRO and academia since the early 1990s.
• In 2022, ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Operations Management (IS4OM) has been established towards more focused efforts to continually monitor the objects posing collision threats, improve the prediction of the evolution of space debris environment and concerted activities to mitigate the risk posed by space debris.
• ISRO is deploying new radars and optical telescopes under the Network for Space Objects Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) project.

About: ‘Project NETRA’

• It is an early warning system in spaceto detect debris and other hazards to Indian satellites. It will give India its own capability in Space Situational Awareness (SSA) like the other space powers.
• Modus Operandi:Under NETRA, the ISRO plans to put up many observational facilities: connected radars, telescopes, data processing units and a control centre.

Benefits:

• NETRA can 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.
• The NETRA effort would make India a part of international efforts towards tracking, warning about and mitigating space debris.
• More importantly, the SSA also has a military quotient to it and adds a new ring to the country’s overall security, against attacks from air, space or sea.
• This is a vital requirement for protecting our space assets and a force multiplier.
• Global Initiative: Clearspace-1 (of European Space Agency),which is scheduled to launch in 2025, will be the first space mission to eliminate debris from orbit.