ISRO to launch data relay satellite to maintain contact with Gagayaan

Sources said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a data relay satellite that will help maintain contact with the Gagangyaan mission throughout after the launch.

The satellite will be started before the final leg of the Gaganyaan mission, which will send astronauts to the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). The first leg – the unmanned mission – is to be launched in December.

“We’re planning to launch our own satellite, which will act as a data relay satellite before going for the first human space flight,” the sources said.

The project of Rs. 800-crore has been signed and work has been going on, they added.

If the satellite does not have a clear view of the ground station, satellites in orbit cannot pass along their information to the ground stations on Earth. So a data relay satellite works as a way to pass along the satellite’s information.

NASA, with a strong human space mission programme, also has its own data relay satellite. Its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite allows it to have global coverage of all the satellites round the clock without having to build extra ground stations on Earth.

The several ground stations used by the ISRO are spread across the globe – Mauritius, Brunei and Biak, Indonesia.

ISRO Chairperson K Sivan had said, last month, the space agency was also in talks with the Australian counterpart to have a ground station at the Coco islands for the Gaganyaan mission.

But, there are blind spots, due to which there is a chance of not receiving signals, sources added. The data relay satellite will help to solve the issues.

At the beginning of this month, the ISRO signed an agreement with French space agency CNES for cooperation for the Gaganyaan, a move that will allow training of Indian flight physicians in the French space agency’s facilities.

Following this agreement, CNES-developed French equipment, tested and still operating aboard the International Space Station, will be made available to Indian crews.

The CNES will also be providing fireproof carry bags made in France to shield equipment from shocks and radiation, it said.

Last month, four proposed astronauts also returned to India after spending nearly a year in Russia.