New Delhi: The Australian Space Agency will support the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s Gaganyaan programme by tracking the spacecraft from Cocos Keeling Islands located in the Indian Ocean.
The agency’s Deputy Head, Anthony Murfett, extended Australian support to ISRO on Monday.
The Gaganyaan programme is a crewed human flight space mission to the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) of 300-400 km from Earth, designed to accommodate a 3-member crew to orbit and return after 7 days.
The fully autonomous, 5.3-tonne spacecraft will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, on the GSLV Mk III launcher, and its capsule will land in the Bay of Bengal.
Speaking at the International Space Conference, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Monday, Murfett highlighted the strong relations and cooperation between the two countries’ space agencies. India and Australia recently updated their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard.
“We are going to be supporting this Gaganyaan mission by tracking it through Australia’s territory on the Cocos Keeling Islands,” he added.
A part of the Asian continent, the Cocos Keeling Islands is a remote Australian archipelago comprising 27 tiny islands in the Indian Ocean.
Earlier this year, ISRO Chairman K Sivan had revealed that the Indian space agency was discussing with its Australian counterpart the deployment of a ground station on the Cocos Keeling Islands for the Gaganyaan mission.
“There are blind spots in a satellite’s orbit that obstruct receiving signals, and passing information to the ground station on Earth becomes difficult if the station is hidden from view. Fortunately, a satellite data tracking from Cocos Islands might help address the issue,” said an official.
The Government of India has approved two unmanned and one manned mission, in collaboration with the country’s armed forces, Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Maritime Agencies like the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Shipping Corporation of India, National Institute of Oceanography, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Indian Meteorological Department, and the laboratories under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
(Avya Mathur)