On March 10, the Assam government announced plans to launch its own satellite to assist in collecting data for essential socio-economic projects and to enhance border surveillance. This announcement was made by Finance Minister Ajanta Neog during the presentation of the state budget for 2025-26. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma later stated that Assam would be the first state in India to have its own satellite.
During her budget speech, Neog explained that the proposed satellite, named ASSAMSAT, would be developed in collaboration with IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) of the Department of Space, Government of India. She noted that the satellite would ensure a continuous and reliable flow of data for the implementation of crucial socio-economic initiatives.
The satellite is also expected to provide targeted services in areas such as agriculture, disaster management, infrastructure development, border security management, and police operations. Neog expressed that this project would inspire the state's students, who would have the opportunity to participate in building experimental satellites with support from IN-SPACe and ISRO.
At a subsequent press conference, the Chief Minister emphasised the advantages of having a dedicated satellite. He mentioned that it would enable the state to detect illegal border crossings, provide advance warning of floods, and deliver weather reports beneficial to farmers.
He referred to the recent coal mine accident in Umrangso, where nine workers lost their lives, highlighting that it took 45 days to gather data about the incident due to reliance on external satellites. He expressed the need for a dedicated satellite to ensure ongoing monitoring of the state's geographical area and noted that preliminary discussions with ISRO had already commenced.
In other news, ISRO announced on Friday that the fourth edition of the PSLV Orbital Platform Experiment Module (POEM-4), which utilizes the spent upper stage of the PSLV vehicle for a space docking experiment mission, has successfully completed 1,000 orbits as of March 4.
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Inputs from PTI