Will the Minister of SPACE be pleased to state:-

(a) whether there is any proposal to launch a high penetration capability satellite to keep constant monitoring of the large area of Indian borders;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the said satellite is likely to transmit uninterrupted pictures continuously;

(d) if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether the said system would be helpful in controlling plane crashes; and

(f) if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER: MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY):

(a)&(b) ISRO proposes to launch Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) with C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, which has cloud penetrating capability for imaging various parts of the country, including border areas. ISRO also proposes to launch a GEO imaging satellite (GISAT) in geostationary orbit to provide near real time pictures of large areas of the country, including borders, under cloud free condition.

(c)&(d) No, Sir. RISAT-1 will be transmitting the picture data only during the passage of the satellite over India to the receiving station located at Hyderabad. The GISAT will provide the pictures of the areas of interest on near real time basis. That is, selected Sector-wise imaging every 5 minutes and entire Indian landmass every 30 minutes at 50m spatial resolution.

(e)&(f) No, Sir. The said systems would not help in controlling plane crashes.

However, Satellite based search and rescue system could help to monitor aviation mishaps if standard distress alert beacons are carried on board. The satellite picks up the distress signals from beacons and alerts the Rescue Coordination Centres. The search and rescue activities are carried out by Coast Guard, Navy, Army and Air Force.

http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/psearch/qsearch15.aspx.

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