BEL, ARIES to collaborate to ensure satellite safety

Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Nainital, have signed an MoU to collaborate on space technologies, particularly focusing on Space Situational Awareness (SSA).

Image processing techniques, software for data analytics solutions, as well as instruments and laboratories, will soon be developed for tracking space objects, especially near-earth objects and artificial satellites, to ensure the safety of satellites and their users. Such a practice of tracking is called SSA.

SSA is required for predicting, warning and avoiding any potential collisions between objects in space.

As part of the MoU, ARIES and BEL will utilise observations from ARIES’s state-of-the-art telescopes, such as the 4m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT), for this purpose. The two organisations will jointly develop image processing techniques and software for data analytics solutions. They will also collaborate on the development of instruments and laboratories. Various training workshops will be conducted for capacity building in SSA. ARIES will also share its expertise in space weather.