ISRO's ambitious plan: 50 satellites to revolutionize Earth's intelligence in five years

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) President S. India plans to launch 50 satellites to collect geographic information in the next five years, Somanath said in Mumbai on December 28, 2023.

ISRO plans to build several constellations of satellites that will operate in orbit that will fulfill the strategic objectives of the constellation. The constellation is used to monitor enemy movements on land and sea, to describe emerging threats in real time, to monitor enemy military assets in high resolution, to provide radar imagery regardless of weather, to warn of missile launches rockets and more. May. perform strategic tasks such as

According to the ISRO chairman, the number of remote sensing satellites currently deployed by India is around 40-50. Speaking at Techfest, an annual science and technology event hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, he said the number should be "more than 10 times what it is now".

The ISRO chief pointed out that the satellite can monitor the country's borders and nearby areas. "Everything is visible from a satellite. This opportunity gives us tremendous potential. We launched satellites to solve this problem, but now there is another way of thinking and we have to look at it more critically. Because the strength of (any) nation is its ability to understand what is happening around it. "

"We have set up 50 satellites which will be operational in the next five years and these satellites will be launched for India in the next five years or more (period) to support this special geo-reconnaissance capability," the ISRO chief added.

Advanced Remote Sensing Satellites

ISRO has progressively enhanced its satellite data collection capabilities by launching increasingly capable optical, radar and multi/hyperspectral satellites into Earth Synchronous Orbit (SSO). The radar satellite is equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which can view the Earth's surface even in clouds and darkness.

Unlike optical satellites, multi- and hyperspectral imaging satellites have limited cloud visibility. Optical imaging satellites include the IRS series launched in 1988, the TES satellite launched in 2001, the Cartosat satellite launched in 2005, and the Resourcesat satellite launched in 2003.

ISRO launched its first Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS) in November 2018. Cartosat Satellite

Kartosat is a dual purpose satellite. The Cartosat-2 series (Cartosat-2B, 2C, 2D and 2E) is capable of imaging a 9.6 km band (geographic band) with a resolution greater than 1 m. To obtain stereoscopic images and achieve a 4- to 5-day return visit capability, the satellite is pointed ± 26 degrees along the path.

ISRO is developing the Cartosat-3 series of advanced remote sensing satellites with a resolution of 0.25 m for high-resolution mapping and mapping applications. the satellite hissed

Hysis is the first in a new series of future Earth observation satellites, called Hyperspectral Imaging Satellites (Hyspex), with an orbital altitude of about 600 km.

Hyperspectral imaging is a type of multispectral imaging that uses much narrower spectral bands to provide more detailed information about the exact wavelengths of light reflected or emitted from the Earth's surface. Hyperspectral sensors capture many narrow and continuous spectral bands, enabling detailed analysis of the electromagnetic spectrum.

While multispectral imaging is suitable for some large-scale assessments, hyperspectral imaging enables precise detection of objects in space. Hyperspectral imagery can provide better insight into certain types of clouds or thin clouds than traditional multispectral imaging, but does not guarantee full penetration of thick clouds.

Radar imaging satellites include the RISAT series. The GISAT satellite

In the near future, ISRO plans to launch the GEO Imaging Satellite (GISAT) from Geostationary Orbit (GSO).

ISRO GISAT provides geo-imagery with multi-spectral (visible, near-infrared and thermal) multi-resolution (50 m to 1.5 km) geo-imagery to enhance mapping capabilities of the country. Hysat has both military and civilian uses.

GISAT provides real-time imagery of most of the country in cloud-free conditions. However, GISAT images are known to have lower resolution than images taken from polar orbiting satellites.

EOS

ISRO's Earth Observation Satellite (EOS) combines radar and optical imaging. ISRO launched EOS-1 on 7 November 2020. The satellite was originally planned to be named RISAT-BR2, as radar imaging payloads were traditionally carried by RISAT. Due to the additional optical payload, ISRO has decided to launch a new series of Earth observation satellites.

surveillance satellite

In addition to optical imaging and radar remote sensing satellites, space exploration also requires other specialized satellites such as ELINT (electronic intelligence), missile launch warning and surveillance satellites. issued
EMISAT is a SIGINT satellite jointly developed by ISRO and DRDO and launched into orbit in April 2019.

EMISAT was deployed in a sun-synchronous circular polar orbit at an altitude of 749 km and an inclination of 98.4 degrees. In addition to the ELINT payload, satellites may also have COMINT (Communications Intelligence) capabilities.

Potential applications for EMISAT satellites include:

The location of enemy ground-based radar transmitters that can be targeted by anti-radiation missiles

Radar signal analysis to determine carrier and subcarrier frequencies, modulation, bandwidth, power levels, beam tracking parameters, transmitter location and movement. This information is used to update the fighter's signal library to instantly identify the type of radar illuminating the aircraft. This information will also be useful in the development of radar jamming techniques.

Extracts raw data (audio, video, text) to capture, demodulate and decode communication signals.

Capture and demodulate extraneous signals such as data links for data extraction and decoding. the satellite of the future

The HEO satellite

ISRO has so far focused on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites. Most of ISRO's Earth observation satellites are deployed in LEO or GEO. In future, ISRO should start deploying highly elliptical orbit (HEO) satellites for continuous observation of the target area.

In addition to continuous tracking, it also reduces the time required for HEO satellites to review the target area. satellite targeting

ISRO's current optical and remote sensing satellites capture images that are downloaded and analyzed by photo analysts. During operations, photo analysts analyze images, identify targets and send coordinates to a military command center for further use by field units. In the future, ISRO needs to develop a satellite that can attack targets in real time by transmitting target coordinates directly to aircraft, ships and missile systems. These satellites require onboard hardware and software to convert optical or radar sensor data into target coordinates for immediate transmission to rapidly deployed weapon systems. missile launch warning satellite

The missile launch warning satellite is equipped with a powerful infrared telescope equipped with cooled sensors to detect missile plumes from the moment of launch to the burn phase and instantly processes the data to provide coordinates and predict the trajectory of the missile.

A constellation of missile launch warning satellites is an essential requirement for an effective ballistic missile system. For India, the need for such a constellation of satellites is urgent because our enemies are beyond our borders. If you trust radar detection, you don't have time to act. Stratified satellite constellations

After making an exciting discovery at TechFest, the ISRO chief spoke about multi-layer Earth observation, where GSO satellites can direct polar orbiting satellites for high-resolution observations.

Communications satellites for satellite communications

Indian Earth observation satellites operating beyond the radio horizon may need to communicate with other Indian satellites in orbit to transmit data to the satellite control center in India. ISRO should facilitate satellite network communications by adding communications relay capabilities to future satellites or by establishing a constellation of dedicated communications satellites.

These satellites facilitate communication between the hierarchical communications described above. "We found a way to launch a layer of satellites from GEO (Geostationary Equatorial Orbit) to LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and (Low Earth Orbit), which requires a significant needs assessment. "These are exceptional circumstances," he said. ISRO chief said..