India plans to build two satellites for environment monitoring

Ramnath Shenoy
Bangalore, Sep 6 (PTI) Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) is planning to build two new satellites
especially for environmental monitoring even as it is stepping
up efforts to use its assessment on agriculture conditions and
weather to effectively help people on the ground in
co-ordination with other government agencies.

"One (satellite) is mainly for studying aerosols and
related things and another one for trace gases (carbon
dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and sulphur dioxide,
among others)," Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G
Madhavan Nair told PTI here.

He said the satellites are in line with what Union
Ministry of Environment and Forests wants. Nair recently
had a discussion with Union Minister of state Jairam Ramesh,
who is now expected to submit a note to Prime Minister of
India on the subject.

Nair said while Bangalore-headquartered ISRO would
build these satellites, it would work with the Ministry to put
together a competent team to analyse the data from the
missions and study the climate change.

ISRO has done some "bits and pieces" of work on
aerosols from observations from the ground and ship for
specific time but now there is a need to consolidate and put
them into operational mode. (MORE) PTI RS
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"Our region is very much affected by aerosols,
especially during the summer months... not only what we
produce here, there is migration from desert areas. Until the
next monsoon, it stays on," Nair said.

Meanwhile, the ISRO Chairman said the space agency's
assessment on agriculture, drought and floods among others,
were so far in "experimental and pilot project mode.

"Many of them need to be operationalised. For example,
agricultural forecast.... With the Agricultural Ministry...we
want to make this an operational theme," Nair, also Secretary
in the Department of Space, said.

"At least for the five crops, we know the technology...
how from aerial things we can forecast," he said, adding, he
recently had a discussion with Union Agriculture Minister
Sharad Pawar, who has issued directions to officials to
operationalise it.

He said ISRO has set up 600-odd automatic weather
stations in the country and would establish another few
hundred, particulaly in the northern region of the country
where the coverage is not good.

"So, these (environmental, agricultural and weather) are
some of the areas where we want to use space-based
systems and see how we an help the country in tackling
day-to-day problems," Nair added. PTI RS
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