Digantara, a space sector start-up of India, is going to set-up India's first commercial space situational awareness observatory in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, to track objects as small as 10 cm in size orbiting the earth. The space situational awareness (SSA) observatory will assist in tracking any activity in space including that of space debris and military satellites hovering over the region. A company statement from Digantara read, "With the establishment of the observatory Digantara will be able to supplement its space-based sensors in their mission to monitor satellites and debris in orbits ranging from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). This will also bring indigenous capabilities to the nation for both military and civilian applications."
The observatory will also help in avoiding great losses since there is an increasing need for efficient collision avoidance systems in highly congested orbital regions like low earth orbit and geosynchronous earth orbit.
Sudhir Nautiyal, Director Industries in the Government of Uttarakhand was quoted as saying, "We are proud to support Digantara’s vision and plans in establishing India’s first dedicated Space Situational Awareness (SSA) observatories in Uttarakhand."
