Indian Space Situational Assessment Report 2023:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released the Indian Space Situational Assessment Report (ISSAR) for 2023, which provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of India’s space assets and their vulnerability to potential collisions in space.
ISSAR 2023 Report Highlight:
- Globally, 3,143 objects were added in 2023 from 212 launches and on-orbit breakup events.
- India contributed to this with the launch of 127 satellites by the end of December 2023.
- In the year 2023, all seven launches of ISRO, namely SSLV-D2/EOS7, LVM3-M3/ONEWEB 2, PSLV-C55/ TeLEOS-2, LVM3-M4/ Chandrayaan-3, and PSLV-C57/Aditya L-1, were successful.
- A total of 5 Indian satellites, 46 foreign satellites, and 8 rocket bodies (including POEM-2) were placed in their intended orbits.
- As of 31st December 2023, India has 22 operational satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 29 in Geostationary Orbit (GEO).
- There are three active Indian deep space missions, Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, Aditya-L1, and Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module.
- ISRO regularly carries out analyses to predict close approaches by other space objects to Indian space assets.
- In case of critical close approaches, ISRO carries out Collision Avoidance Maneuvers (CAMs) to safeguard its operational spacecraft.
- About 1 lakh close approach alerts were received from USSPACECOM (US Space Command), and over 3,000 alerts for close approaches within a distance of 1 km were detected for ISRO satellites.
- No close approaches with other space objects were detected for the Chandrayaan-3 mission throughout its mission phases, and also for Aditya-L1 during its Earth-bound phase.
- The report highlights a significant increase in the number of CAMs conducted by ISRO in 2023.
- ISRO conducts Collision Avoidance Analysis (COLA) to assess and prevent potential collisions.
- A total of 23 Collision Avoidance Maneuvers (CAMs) were carried out during 2023 to protect Indian space assets, compared to 21 in 2022 and 19 in 2021.
- The report details the successful re-entry of 8 Indian satellites in 2023. This includes the controlled de-orbiting of Megha-Tropiques-1, showcasing ISRO’s commitment to responsible space debris management.
