DDG-80
Trusted Member
New Delhi: India’s first military grade spy satellite manufactured by the domestic private sector is ready, and has been shipped for launch on a SpaceX rocket.
Work is also in progress on a ground station that will control the asset and process sub-metre resolution imagery from it.
ET has learnt that the satellite built by Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) was completed last week and is being sent to Florida for an expected launch by April.
The unique aspect of the TASL programme is that the ground control will remain in India, which will enable secrecy of the coordinates that are required to be monitored by the armed forces. In the past, exact coordinates and timings for monitoring had to be shared with foreign vendors.
By the time the satellite is in operational mode, the state-of-theart ground control centre will be set up in Bengaluru.
The control centre will direct the satellite’s path and process imagery that can be used by the armed forces to monitor infrastructure and acquire military targets. Capable of providing imagery with 0.5-metre spatial resolution, the satellite has been built in partnership with Satellogic — a Latin American company.
Isro also has sub-metre resolution satellites, but given the vast level of coverage required in order to monitor the border as well as enemy movement, the armed forces have been forced in the past to lean on US companies to acquire urgently needed intelligence. There has been a spike in imagery procurement from foreign entities, especially after developments on the LAC with China.
With its primary defence role, the satellite imagery can also be exported to friendly countries. TASL is learnt to have been contacted for orders. The Bengaluru plant is capable of producing 25 such low earth orbit satellites in a year, which could technically put together an entire constellation in space within a short time. It is learnt that tech absorption for making the satellite has been done at a component level and, as part of the larger strategy, future payloads can be developed in the country and customised for the forces’ requirements.
