India will soon have its own satellites to monitor spy satellites. How the technology works
'India will be focusing on improving its presence in space in the coming years. This initiative will be a part of that larger aim,' a senior ISRO official said.
The project being undertaken by the Defence Ministry, which is in the process of being finalised, will have 'satellite mapping' capabilities and will be fully made in India, senior officials from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told ThePrint.
New Delhi: Spy satellites to monitor other spy satellites. India will soon have its own constellation of satellites to keep an eye out for other satellites that might be surveilling India.
This network of satellites will enhance India's space domain awareness and will also help monitor orbital threats in real-time. The project is being overseen under NETRA, a Network for Tracking Space Objects and Analysis, which detects space debris and other hazardous space objects.
The official said that while ISRO will partner with the MoD in overseeing the overall design and monitoring of these satellites, a private Bengaluru-based space start-up, Digantara, has been contracted to deploy these satellites within the next year.
How does satellite mapping work?
The capabilities of monitoring foreign satellites is being acquired by countries including the US, Russia and China.
These satellites have propulsion and guidance systems that utilise factors such as orbital inclinations and altitudes to get information and photographs from a potential target satellite.
Some of these satellites are also capable of intercepting inter-satellite communications and links to ground stations.
Varying versions of such technology are either already deployed or are currently being tested. In 2020, the US Space Command—an agency responsible for tracking all objects in orbit—flagged that the Russian satellite Kosmos 2543 had released an unknown object into space. This was believed to be a test of a new technology that could be used to destroy objects already in orbit.
The Russian satellite released this tech in close proximity to another Russian satellite.
'Space is increasingly becoming a weapon for countries. Battles will no longer be limited to just the ground, but will also be fought in space. And countries need to be ready for it,' the ISRO official said.
Focus on active orbital security
India is already working on increasing its defence capabilities in space.
Its next 'spy satellite programme', space-based surveillance-3 or SBS-3, will launch a constellation of 52 surveillance satellites in the coming two years. Three private space startups, Ananth Technologies, Centum Electronics and Alpha Design Technologies, have joined hands with the government to give shape to this project.
The Rs 27,000 crore project is set to significantly improve India's national security capabilities.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: DRDO eyes persistent high-altitude surveillance edge as Stratospheric Airship soars in maiden trial
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Europeans seek 'digital sovereignty' as US tech firms embrace Trump
At a market stall in Berlin run by charity Topio, volunteers help people who want to purge their phones of the influence of US tech firms. Since Donald Trump 's inauguration, the queue for their services has grown. Interest in European-based digital services has jumped in recent months, data from digital market intelligence company Similarweb shows. More people are looking for e-mail, messaging and even search providers outside the United States. The first months of Trump's second presidency have shaken some Europeans' confidence in their long-time ally, after he signalled his country would step back from its role in Europe 's security and then launched a trade war. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Costco Shoppers Say This Wrinkle Cream Is "Actually Worth It" The Skincare Magazine Undo "It's about the concentration of power in US firms," said Topio's founder Michael Wirths, as his colleague installed on a customer's phone a version of the Android operating system without hooks into the Google ecosystem. Wirths said the type of people coming to the stall had changed: "Before, it was people who knew a lot about data privacy. Now it's people who are politically aware and feel exposed." Live Events Tesla chief Elon Musk, who also owns social media company X, was a leading adviser to the US president before the two fell out, while the bosses of Amazon, Meta and Google-owner Alphabet took prominent spots at Trump's inauguration in January. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Days before Trump took office, outgoing president Joe Biden had warned of an oligarchic "tech industrial complex" threatening democracy. Berlin-based search engine Ecosia says it has benefited from some customers' desire to avoid US counterparts like Microsoft's Bing or Google, which dominates web searches and is also the world's biggest email provider. "The worse it gets, the better it is for us," founder Christian Kroll said of Ecosia, whose sales pitch is that it spends its profits on environmental projects. Similarweb data shows the number of queries directed to Ecosia from the European Union has risen 27% year-on-year and the company says it has 1% of the German search engine market. But its 122 million visits from the 27 EU countries in February were dwarfed by 10.3 billion visits to Google, whose parent Alphabet made revenues of about $100 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2024 - nearly a third of its $350 billion global turnover. Non-profit Ecosia earned 3.2 million euros ($3.65 million) in April, of which 770,000 euros was spent on planting 1.1 million trees. Google declined to comment for this story. Reuters could not determine whether major US tech companies have lost any market share to local rivals in Europe. Digital sovereignty The search for alternative providers accompanies a debate in Europe about "digital sovereignty" - the idea that reliance on companies from an increasingly isolationist United States is a threat to Europe's economy and security. "Ordinary people, the kind of people who would never have thought it was important they were using an American service are saying, 'hang on!'," said UK-based internet regulation expert Maria Farrell. "My hairdresser was asking me what she should switch to." Use in Europe of Swiss-based ProtonMail rose 11.7% year-on-year to March compared to a year ago, according to Similarweb, while use of Alphabet's Gmail, which has some 70% of the global email market, slipped 1.9%. ProtonMail, which offers both free and paid-for services, said it had seen an increase in users from Europe since Trump's re-election, though it declined to give a number. "My household is definitely disengaging," said British software engineer Ken Tindell, citing weak US data privacy protections as one factor. Trump's vice president JD Vance shocked European leaders in February by accusing them - at a conference usually known for displays of transatlantic unity - of censoring free speech and failing to control immigration. In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened visa bans for people who "censor" speech by Americans, including on social media, and suggested the policy could target foreign officials regulating US tech companies. US social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have said the European Union's Digital Services Act amounts to censorship of their platforms. EU officials say the Act will make the online environment safer by compelling tech giants to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. Greg Nojeim, director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said Europeans' concerns about the US government accessing their data, whether stored on devices or in the cloud, were justified. Not only does US law permit the government to search devices of anyone entering the country, it can compel disclosure of data that Europeans outside the US store or transmit through US communications service providers, Nojeim said. Mission impossible? Germany's new government is itself making efforts to reduce exposure to US tech, committing in its coalition agreement to make more use of open-source data formats and locally-based cloud infrastructure. Regional governments have gone further - in conservative-run Schleswig-Holstein, on the Danish border, all IT used by the public administration must run on open-source software. Berlin has also paid for Ukraine to access a satellite-internet network operated by France's Eutelsat instead of Musk's Starlink. But with modern life driven by technology, "completely divorcing US tech in a very fundamental way is, I would say, possibly not possible," said Bill Budington of US digital rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Everything from push notifications to the content delivery networks powering many websites and how internet traffic is routed relies largely on US companies and infrastructure, Budington noted. Both Ecosia and French-based search engine Qwant depend in part on search results provided by Google and Microsoft's Bing, while Ecosia runs on cloud platforms, some hosted by the very same tech giants it promises an escape from. Nevertheless, a group on messaging board Reddit called BuyFromEU has 211,000 members. "Just cancelled my Dropbox and will switch to Proton Drive," read one post. Mastodon, a decentralised social media service developed by German programmer Eugen Rochko, enjoyed a rush of new users two years ago when Musk bought Twitter, later renamed X. But it remains a niche service. Signal, a messaging app run by a US nonprofit foundation, has also seen a surge in installations from Europe. Similarweb's data showed a 7% month-on-month increase in Signal usage in March, while use of Meta's WhatsApp was static. Meta declined to comment for this story. Signal did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. But this kind of conscious self-organising is unlikely on its own to make a dent in Silicon Valley's European dominance, digital rights activist Robin Berjon told Reuters. "The market is too captured," he said. "Regulation is needed as well."
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Prathidhwani contributes to chief ministers distress relief fund for landslide rehabilitation
Thiruvananthapuram: Prathidhwani, the welfare and recreation forum of IT employees at Technopark, contributed over Rs 28 lakh to the chief minister's distress relief fund (CMDRF) for the rehabilitation of landslide-hit communities at Chooralmala and Mundakkai in Wayanad district. The relief fund was handed over to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his office by state convenor of Prathidhwani Rajeev Krishnan. Prathidhwani president at Technopark Vishnu Rajendran and other office bearers Rahul Chandran, Saneesh KP and Prasanthi PS were also present. Prathidhwani's units in three IT Parks in Kerala — Technopark, Infopark, Kochi, and Cyberpark, Kozhikode — collected the contributions from around 1,156 techies. The amount is intended for building a house (Rs 20 lakh) and other facilities in the township project (Rs 8.67 lakh) for the communities devastated by the massive landslide last year.
India.com
an hour ago
- India.com
Meet Indian genius Pranjali Awasthi, built Rs 100 crore company at just 16, she is now making....
Meet Indian genius Pranjali Awasthi, built Rs 100 crore company at just 16, she is now making.... Women are breaking shackles and redefining success in every space around the world. And, Pranjali Awasthi is one of those changemakers. She is proof that young women are not only dreaming big, but they are doing it with tenacity, talent, and a vision for their futures. Born in India and based in the US, she began coding at the age of seven, landed research lab internships by 13, and launched her own AI startup, at just 16. Meet Indian genius Pranjali Awasthi, built Rs 100 crore company at just 16, she is now making…. According to her LinkedIn profile, Pranjali attended Doral Academy Charter High School from 2019 to September 2021, where she pursued a STEM-focused curriculum and completed her education up to the 10th grade. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Pranjali's journey is an amazing combination of passion and opportunity. She was born in India and at the age of 11, she moved to Florida. Her father, a computer engineer, encouraged and embraced her growing interest in coding. In a little more than a year, her startup was valued at approximately Rs 100 crore (almost $12 million), reported IndiaToday. This showcases her determination, talent, and vision at such a young age. She immersed herself in computer science and competitive mathematics during her school years, resulting in an internship at the Neural Dynamics of Control Lab at Florida International University. It was there that she was introduced to machine learning projects at a young age (before realizing she was working on research that aimed at identifying the different varieties of ADHD based on EEG data), reported IndiaToday. Pranjali created in Miami in January 2022 with the main goal of making research easy for everyone. The AI-driven platform is intended for end-users to extract and summarize information from academic content, PDFs, and other documents. The platform can search through many files at once, connect to cloud drives, and users can export their results into a CSV file. They have a free plan, and paid plans that include more advanced features and functionality to accommodate the user's advanced research needs. As per India Today, has garnered popularity and quickly raised approximately $450,000 (₹3.89 crore) in financing from investors including Backend Capital and Village Global. As of October 2023, it's valued at approximately ₹100 crore. Researchers are praising platform for reducing a substantial amount of repetitive R&D work by 75%, drastically saving time and energy in academic or technical efforts. Previously, she worked as Workshop lead at Upsilon Pi Epsilon, research intern at Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Florida International University. She is also the co-founder of Dash. Pranjali is already onto her next big thing — Dash. She calls it, 'ChatGPT with hands.' Dash differs from previous AI chatbots in its ability to not just chat, but to also do things, bringing the element of automation to the conversation. Just last month, Dash reached the number one product on Product Hunt, which definitely be signified a positive signal from the tech community. Pranjali celebrated this milestone by sharing a LinkedIn post to announce the launch of Dash's official Discord server.
