Isro signs pact with astrophysics institute to set up optical Telescopes

News:The Indian Space Research Organization has signed a pact with Indian Institute of Astrophysics to establish an optical telescope under Project NETRA.

Facts:

About Project NETRA:

• Project NETRA is an early warning system in space to detect debris and other hazards to Indian satellites.
• Under the project,the ISRO plans to put up many observational facilities: connected radars, telescopes; data processing units and a control centre.
• They can spot, track and catalogue objects as small as 10 cm up to a range of 3,400 km and equal to a space orbit of around 2,000 km.

What is the need of Project NETRA?

• India has 15 communication satellites active in the geostationary orbit, 13 remote-sensing satellites active in low-earth orbit (2,000 km radius) and eight navigation satellites in medium-earth orbit.
• Hence,the project plays an important role in protecting Indian satellites from space debris and other hazards.

Importance of the Project:

• The project would make India a part of international efforts towards tracking, warning about and mitigating space debris.
• The project will also give India its own capability in space situational awareness (SSA) like the other space powers.

Additional information:

About DRDO’s NETRA:

• Apart from ISRO, Defence Research Development Organisation(DRDO) also operates NETRA (Network Traffic Analysis).It is a software network used to analyse internet traffic. 
• It is used by Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and other intelligence agencies of Government of India.