Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Department of Space has initiated studies towards undertaking the development of critical technologies required to achieve Autonomous Precision Landing of Space Rockets and their demonstration through Vertical Take-off & Vertical Landing (VTVL) of Test Vehicles.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in order to become an active stakeholder in the small satellite market, ISRO/DOS has initiated development of Spacecraft buses for the small satellites, which includes nano-satellite and micro-satellites. Further to that, the development of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) is also underway to provide launch services catering to small satellite market.
The Minister said, Department of Space has put in place appropriate measures to manage the increasing space debris in low earth orbit comprising of defunct satellites, discarded rocket stages and other orbital debris. He said, ISRO has been an active member of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and India has contributed immensely to the IADC and UN guidelines for safe and sustainable space operations.
Mechanisms are in place for ensuring that the space activities are conducted in a safe and sustainable manner, which include:
- Establishment of facilities for tracking and monitoring of space objects.
- Best practices such as passivation of launch vehicle upper stages, conjunction assessment and collision avoidance for satellites, post mission disposal of satellites and upper stages, etc.
- Operationalization of ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) for safeguarding Indian space assets against space environmental hazards, to pursue the related R&D activities, and also to contribute to awareness raising on the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.