Star wars drill in the works

New Delhi, June 16: Indian space scientists are setting up an earth station to keep a lookout for missiles fired at Indian satellites and take them out of the line of fire, a senior Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) officer said here today.

The disclosure — effectively meaning that India is evolving its version of a star wars programme — came alongside a call by the army chief, General Deepak Kapur, to set up a joint military space command.

General Kapur prefaced his call with remarks on the expansion of China’s military-space projects.

China shot down one of its old weather satellites with a missile in a test on January 11 last year, becoming the third country after the US and Russia to demonstrate the capability and sparking concerns over the weaponisation of space.

The response to the Chinese ASAT (anti-satellite missile) was being prepared, Geeta Varadan, the programme director for special projects at Isro, said at a meeting on Indian military applications in space.

“The first is a geo-stationary satellite that we are trying to put up (to keep a lookout for probable missiles) and we are also setting up a ground station to monitor any object coming close to our satellites so that we can move our satellites out of harm’s way,” she said.

“There should not be a threat,” she added, “because our space programme is entirely peaceful but we have to be prepared.”

Since its inception, Isro has launched 50 satellites. Its more advanced satellites, like the Cartosat I and the recently launched Cartosat 2A, also have military applications with superior imagery technology.

Varadan said the Cartosat 2A can give sub-metre resolution (.8 metre) for pictures and was meant for cartographic purposes.

But the military would also like to use the satellite for surveillance. Varadan said Isro hoped to launch a satellite in five years that can send even sharper — at .3 metre resolution — imagery.

Kapur himself praised the quality of images that have been received so far from the Cartosat 2A. He said: “The establishment of a tri-service space command for persistent surveillance and rapid response is required in the future.” The army had taken up an initiative by creating a space cell at its headquarters.

Kapur noted that “(the) Chinese space programme is expanding at an exponentially rapid pace in both offensive and defensive content”.

He said the army, the navy and the air force had to jointly develop institutions that will eventually lead to the creation of a space command.

“The Indian Army’s agenda for exploitation of space will have to evolve dynamically. It should be our endeavour to optimise space applications for military purposes,” the army chief said.

Last week, defence minister A.K. Antony announced the creation of a space cell in the headquarters of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS).

IDS chief Lt General Hardev Lidder, who was also at today’s meeting, said weaponisation of space was inevitable.

“We may get sucked into the inevitable military race of space-based applications in warfare and protection of space assets,” he said.