Geospatial News

ONEWEB TURNS TO ISRO FOR SATELLITE LAUNCH

PARL PANEL BATS FOR REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY FOR MONITORING IRRIGATION PROJECTS

OneWeb, the low-earth orbit satellite communications company has inked a pact with NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), an ISRO commercial arm, to launch its satellites from Sriharikota spaceport by year-end.

The launch will add to OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation of 428 satellites, 66% of the planned total fleet, to build a global network that will deliver high-speed, low-latency connectivity.

The announcement follows a series of sanctions slapped on Kremlin over Ukraine invasion.

Three days prior to the launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Dmitry Rozhogin, Roscosmos director-general, threatened to ban OneWeb satellites from flying aboard Soyuz rockets if the UK government didn’t give up its stakes in OneWeb, which did not happen.

Abandonment by Russia and censured within the UK impelled OneWeb to explore alternative options. The company chose to launch from its rival company Space X falcon rocket. After Space X, NSIL is the second company with which OneWeb has signed an agreement. In the past three years, NSIL has launched 45 global satellites aboard ISRO’s PSLV, generating a revenue of $35 million.

The Public Account Committee (PAC) – a parliamentary standing committee, has made recommendations to the Ministry of Jal Shakti (Water Resource) to use satellite imageries from the National Remote Sensing Centre to effectively monitor irrigation projects. The committee, in its report, pointed out financial irregularities related to the accelerated irrigation benefits program (AIBP). Under this project, the Central government provides financial aid to state governments to speed up the implementation of irrigation projects. “The committee feels that the effective use of satellite imageries and ground information will go a long way in monitoring irrigation potential and therefore, desires that the ministry should take all possible steps to effectively reduce the variations between satellite imageries and field verifications by working with the remote sensing authorities” the report said. The PAC observed that the project implementation is not up to the mark due to inordinate delay in detailed project reports (DPRs). Money allocation to a project without a DPR also raised eyebrows.

JAMMU GETS INDIA’S SECOND SPACE TRAINING CENTER

DISHANK APP TO CHECK LAND FRAUD GPS COMES TO RESCUE OF ENDANGERED TURTLE

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space, and Central University of Jammu (CUJ) have jointly established a Space Science Center for conducting research in space science and technology in Central University, Jammu. The centre has been named after renowned space scientist, teacher, and former chairman, ISRO, Prof. Satish Dhawan, who hailed from Valley.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (MoS) for Space, said that the Satish Dhawan Space Science Center would open up new vistas in the region for academicians, industrialists, and start-ups in the space domain. He also opined that space applications cut across all the technology domains, and space will become an unavoidable technology in the years to come. The centre houses labs/facilities related to geospatial data analysis, materials, astrophysics, natural disasters, and avionics. It was inaugurated by Dr Singh in the presence of Somanath S, chairman, ISRO/Secretary, DOS, Dr K Radhakrishnan, former chairman, ISRO, and member, Space Commission, and Prof. Sanjeev Jain, VC-CUJ, on March 12, 2022.

Dishank survey app is the brainchild of the Karnataka government. The mobile application helps one find information about land properties located anywhere in the state. The information is largely about land ownership, extent and type of land, court stay, and any restriction related to land. The app aims at helping buyers check property frauds. For instance, those interested in buying a property can find out if it is alienated or part of lake bed, forest, government land, record of rights, tenancy, etc. It superimposes survey numbers of all properties on a satellite map. The app consists of links of geo-referenced maps of villages in the state, which are linked to state land records available in the Bhoomi database. It gives details of land once the survey number is fed. A user can stand on a piece of land and open the app to check its detailed status — whether the land is a part of lake bed or under any restriction. Android and iOS users can download the app for free.

Geospatial technology has come to the rescue of the most endangered species of turtle in the world – Batagur baska (10 Northern River Terrapin). This species of riverine turtle is native to Southeast Asia and is classified “Critically Endangered” by the IUCN, and considered extinct in much of its former range. In January this year, the global positioning system (GPS)-enabled turtles were released into the wild from a breeding center in the Sunderbans in West Bengal. By February-end, four of them had crossed the international boundary by traveling hundreds of kilometers and reached Bangladeshi waters. Fishermen in Bangladesh found the turtles and dismantled the GPS transmitter, which had helpline number. The fishermen were told to hand over the turtle to the nearest forest office in Khulna, Bangladesh. This prompted the Sundarban Tiger Reserve and Turtle Survival Alliance of India to take up a joint conservation. Currently, the Royal Bengal Tiger conservation is the only joint work carried out by both countries. The Sunderbans is the world's largest mangrove delta formed by the Ganga and Brahmaputra.

GIS FOR BETTER POLICING IN CHENNAI

54 CHINESE APPS ON INDIA’S BAN LIST TAIWAN-BUILT INSPIRESAT-1 BLASTS OFF TO SPACE

The Chennai police, probably the first in the country, have decided to use geographic information system (GIS) technology to map crime hotspots to provide better policing to make Chennai a safe city. They created a virtual map of the city, demarcating jurisdiction of police stations that often get blurred, other important places such as religious sites, hospitals, railway stations, bus stands, educational institutions and traffic signals. Data from different sources of last five years such as first information reports, community service register from police stations, call data from control rooms of emergency helplines such as 100, 112, 1098, 1091 and 181, Kavalan SoS app will be plotted on virtual map to understand and analyse the trends and patterns of crimes, and law-and-order issues. Thousands of cameras have been installed and programmed to flag the control room in case of a panic situation or overcrowding at a particular spot.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned 54 more Chinese apps on February 14 this year. In all, 321 Chinese apps have been banned over border tension in May-June, 2020. Under Section 69(A) of the IT Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) requested that the apps be banned due to security reasons. According to the ministry, the 54 apps reportedly collected sensitive information from users and gained critical permissions from them. In addition to being misused, these transferred real-time data to hostile countries. These apps allow them to assemble large quantities of personal data to collect, analyze, and profile to harm India's sovereignty and integrity. Some of these applications could be used to spy and perform surveillance activities by using a camera or a microphone, gaining access to the GPS location, and doing malicious network activities similar to previously blocked apps. INSPIREsat-1 (IS-1) entered orbit on Valentine's Day after blasting off from India's Satish Dhawan Space Center at 5.59am. As part of two rideshare payloads on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), IS-1 carried a radar imaging satellite. The IS-1 satellite began transmitting signals as soon as it blasted off from its launch vehicle at 9.30am (Taiwan time). Scientific cube satellite IS-1 was developed as part of INSPIRE, an international consortium of colleges and universities with space science programs. Taiwan's National Central University (NCU), India's Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) developed the small satellite. Its developers claim the satellite will improve our understanding of ionosphere dynamics and coronal heating.Chang Chi-wei, professor at NCU and project leader of IS-1, revealed that the Taiwanese team developed the satellite's Compact Ionospheric Probe (CIP), while LASP developed the Dual-zone Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer with NASA’s aid.

INDIAN GOVT TO MAP 6 LAKH VILLAGES USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY

Over 6 lakh villages and 100 cities are being mapped in India using drones and geospatial technology under the SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping in Village Areas with Improvised Technology) project. Union Minister for Science, Technology, and Space Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that the government would create pan-Indian 3D maps. He said the Prime Minister believes in breaking taboos — whether it is opening up the space sector to private players, setting up joint ventures in atomic energy or implementing the drone policy. The Panchayati Raj Ministry implements the project, and the PM announced it in April 2020. As a result of the updated guidelines, private companies can prepare a wide range of maps without needing to seek approval from a host of ministries, thereby simplifying the use of drones and the development of applications using location mapping.

INDIA'S LARGEST AGRITECH – DEHAAT — RAISES $115 MILLION GPS-ENABLED EMERGENCY CALL BOXES ON HIGHWAYS

Agritech start-up, DeHaat, which offers a full suite of agricultural services to Indian farmers, has raised $115 million for its latest funding round. Sofina and Lightrock led the 10-year-old start-up's Series D funding round. Besides, Temasek, Prosus Ventures, RTP Global, Sequoia Capital India and FMO also participated in the new round, which brings the company's to date total to $161 million ($157 million of that in the last 30 months).

With DeHaat, which means village in Hindi, farmers in India (and elsewhere) can solve three of the biggest challenges they face: working capital, acquiring agri-input items such as seeds and fertilizers, and finding buyers for produce. Indian farmers sell only about a third of their harvest to the big markets. Founded in Gurgaon and Patna, the start-up brings together brands that sell agricultural input products, institutional financiers, and buyers on one platform. It also works with more than 3,000 micro-entrepreneurs for last-mile delivery and aggregation. Additionally, the start-up operates an eponymous Android app that can be accessed in multiple languages and functions as a helpline for farmers. For emergencies, GPS-enabled boxes have been installed at highways, outer ring roads and toll plazas in Telangana for road users seeking immediate assistance. The box called “Save Our Soul” (SOS) has been placed every 200-300 meters, and commuters can seek immediate assistance from the local authorities. These are connected to the nearest police station and control room. Each orange-colored emergency calling box has a number. As soon as the user presses the emergency button on the SOS system, the camera is automatically activated on the pole, and the device is connected to the nearest control room. Besides, ambulances and patrolling vehicles are alerted, and authorized persons receive a box number message. This device does not require an internet connection. Sadly, these boxes are not being used due to lack of awareness. NHAI is looking for more places to install these devices.

NSIL TO TRANSFER ITS IMS-1 SATELLITE PLATFORM TO SUITABLE ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA

CENTRE, ISRO COLLABORATE TO LAUNCH DEEP OCEAN MISSION

The Department of Space (DoS) has asked the space public sector undertaking, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), to transfer technology of the small satellite platform — Indian Mini Satellite-1 (IMS-1) Bus, developed by the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) through an interest exploratory note (IEN). The platform will enable low-cost access to space by providing a dedicated platform for payloads for various types of satellite services such as earth imaging, ocean and atmospheric studies, microwave remote sensing, and space science missions with a quick turnaround time. The IMS-1 series was first launched in 2008 as co-passenger of Cartosat-2A .The IMS-1 bus has been developed as a versatile bus of 100kg class with payload capability of around 30kg. The bus has been developed using various miniaturization techniques. A satellite bus or spacecraft bus is a model on which satellites or spacecraft are often based. The bus is the infrastructure of the spacecraft that provides locations for payload.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences in March announced the launch of Rs 4,077-crore Deep Ocean Mission (DOM). It has collaborated with the Indian Space Research Organisation (lSRO) for the mission’s implementation for a period of five years (20212026). The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is developing a manned submersible capable of carrying three persons to 6,000m ocean depth.

At Parliament, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, said that the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of ISRO is developing a titanium alloy human sphere of 2.1m diameter for the manned submersible. The mission aims to explore deep-oceanic resources and develop technologies for their sustainable use, besides generating livelihood sources. On overexploitation of the marine resources by corporate houses, Dr Singh, in early February, said nothing of the sort would happen and that the DOM would not affect the livelihood of fishermen in the country.