India planning to launch satellites for military purposes
Dated 28/10/2005
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Satellites have become an indispensable tool in the arsenal of any country. The surveillance and photographic capabilities of military satellites have acquired unbelievable capabilities. The best military satellites can easily read off the number plate of a car, from out in space.
Photographs for the backyard of any US home are freely available on the internet, using Google's "Keyhole" website. (Keyhole also offers high resolutions pictures of New Delhi !) Clearly, the US military will have the resources to acquire far more detailed photographs from outer space. The best military satellites today can take pictures of 10-15 cm resolution, in space. This can enable then to identify individuals from a satellite in space !
India is one of the world's few nations that has a capability to design, manufacture and launch satellites. Infact ISRO, through its commercial arm Antrix offers to design and build satellites for other countries, at lower prices than offered by the US or European consortiums.
Interestingly, India has not launched any military satellites to date.
ISRO FOR PEACEFUL PURPOSES ONLY
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was set up in 1972. ISRO's brief is to develop space technology for peaceful purposes only. ISRO is not mandated to launch military satellites, unless there is a new directive from the government or a major shift in the policy laid down when ISRO was founded 30 years ago.
However, in practice this has not been an issue. ISRO's activities have not always been entirely civilian.
SOME SPACE SURVEILLANCE
TES
In 2001, ISRO launched the 1-meter resolution Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), making it the only civilian space agency to possess this technology besides the US-based, privately-owned Ikonos satellite. Although at the time of the launch, ISRO officials said that the satellite was meant for civilian use, it went on to successfully relay high-quality images of the war in Afghanistan and of Pakistani troop movements along the border.
RESOURCESAT-1
India successfully launched Resourcesat-1 (IRS-P6) on October 17, 2003, which is considered to be the most sophisticated remote sensing satellite to date. Its maximum resolution is approximately 6 meters.
CARTOSAT-1 & 2
Earlier this year in May, ISRO went on to launch the 2.5-meter resolution Cartosat-1 satellite, which has 2 cameras to point at an object from 2 different angles. The next in the series, Cartosat-2 will have a 1-meter resolution and a 120 GB storage capacity for captured images, and is scheduled for launch by the end of the year.
Officially, the Cartosat platforms will be used for cartographic (charting of maps) purposes, as well as urban and rural development. Unofficially, they are effectively dual-use even though they fall short of the 10-15 cm capabilities of the best military satellites today.
MIL RECON SYSTEM
India is also ready to take the next step by putting in place a military satellite reconnaissance system. "The programme is in advanced stage of development and is expected to be operational by 2007," defence minister Pranab Mukherjee has said.
A joint venture between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the project was to be operational by 2005. However, validation of technologies had taken longer than anticipated, the minister said.
Experts say the setting up of extensive ground-based surveillance system, hooked up to the country's remote sensing satellites, would give the country a capability to keep a watch on all explosive spots, missile silos and movements in the neighbourhood as well as sudden military build-ups.
RENT A MIL SAT
To have in place immediately, India had, 2 years ago approached Israel to lease the Israeli Ofek-5 military remote-sensing satellite. The offer has been pending with the Israel government since September 2003.
OWN MIL SAT
Alternatively, ISRO may be preparing a military-quality high resolution satellite for launch. Even in this eventuality, however, a complementary integrated ground system may offer India the best option for immediate growth in our Satellite Reconnaissance and Surveillance (SRS) system's overall capabilities.
Clearly India has the need and the capability to have its own "Eye In The Sky" for military surveillance.
