ARIES and BEL collaborate to enhance India’s space situational awareness

New Delhi: In a major development for India’s space technology sector, the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a Navaratna Defence Public Sector Undertaking (PSU). The partnership aims to develop critical technologies for tracking space objects, particularly near-Earth objects and artificial satellites, as part of India's growing focus on Space Situational Awareness (SSA).

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SSA is crucial for predicting, warning, and avoiding potential collisions between space objects, which is essential for ensuring the safety of satellites and their users. The collaboration between ARIES and BEL represents a significant step forward in bolstering India’s space capabilities, aligned with the government's ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make-in-India’ initiatives.

Under the terms of the MoU, ARIES and BEL will leverage advanced image processing techniques and data analytics solutions. These will be supported by observations from ARIES's cutting-edge telescopes, including the 4m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT). Additionally, the two organizations will collaborate on the development of specialized instruments and laboratories. To further enhance expertise in SSA, ARIES and BEL plan to conduct a series of training workshops focused on capacity building.

ARIES will contribute its extensive knowledge in space weather monitoring, a key element in understanding the environmental conditions that affect space operations. The partnership also underscores India’s growing emphasis on building indigenous solutions for global space challenges.

The MoU has been signed at BEL’s Ghaziabad unit by Prof. Dipankar Banerjee, Director of ARIES, and Rashmi Kathuria, General Manager (SCCS) & Unit Head of BEL. The ceremony was attended by senior officials from both organisations, including Dr Brijesh Kumar, Dr TS Kumar, and Dr S Krishna Prasad from ARIES, as well as Bhanu Prakash Srivastava, Director (OU), Anoop Kumar Rai, CS (CRL-GAD) and Puneet Jain, AGM (Marketing) from BEL.

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