K Sivan, chairman, Isro (File photo)

BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) says it is keen on protecting high-value space assets from debris and that it will soon have a specialised centre that will protect such assets.

"Situational awareness and management (SSAM) has become an internationally significant area due to the ever growing manmade space debris population and the increased collision threat with operational spacecraft," the press note read.

K Sivan, chairman, Isro, on Friday laid foundation stone for Space Situational Awareness Control Centre at Peenya .

The space agency said it had taken special attention to this aspect. "Isro has set up a directorate of space situational awareness and management aiming at protecting high valued space assets from space debris close approaches and collisions," the note read.

The Peenya centre will help carryout systematically all activities related to SSAM.

"The control centre would facilitate the intensified activities foreseen for SSAM, in view of increasing debris population and operational space assets. The control centre would host a range of activities pertaining to protection of Indian space assets from inactive satellites, pieces of orbiting objects, near earth asteroids and adverse space weather conditions," the note read.

Isro further added that the centre would assimilate the tracking data of inactive satellites from indigenous observation facilities and generates useful information from bare observations through analysis.

"For sustainable use of space, the control centre would enable research activities pertaining to active debris removal, space debris modelling and mitigation," Isro said.

