India seeks G20 nations' contributions for G20 satellite project in payloads, instruments: ISRO chief

S Somanath. Pic/PTI

S Somnath, Chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), extended India's appeal to G20 nations to contribute to the G20 satellite project through payloads and instruments. The weather and climate surveillance satellite is set to debut over the next two years, stated a report in PTI.

According to the report, Somnath highlighted the satellite's focus on monitoring critical metrics such as air pollution, greenhouse emissions, humidity changes, precipitation, ocean behaviours, currents, waves, soil moisture, and radiation budgeting during his presentation at IIT Bombay's Techfest.

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"We offered to build a satellite and we are asking the G20 nations to contribute to this satellite through payloads, instruments that they can develop here. We are going to launch (the satellite) in two years. That will be the contribution of India to the whole of the world," Somnath said at Techfest.

India's proposal includes building the satellite and encouraging the G20 countries to donate developed payloads and equipment to the project. Somnath emphasised the initiative's worldwide significance by emphasising the desire to make data available to the international scientific community for weather modelling and broader scientific inquiry, the PTI report further stated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed launching a G20 satellite for environmental and climatic monitoring in September. The ISRO head restated the goal of making this data available internationally for the benefit of nations' weather forecasting and scientific research, asking scientific communities around the world to contribute to the satellite's construction for collaborative global growth.

"We want to make sure the data is available to the entire world and every nation so that they can use it for their weather modelling, and scientific research. We are welcoming each one of the scientific communities of the world to build a satellite for the world," Somnath added.

ISRO chief on India's maiden solar mission

Last week, Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somnath announced that the L1 point of insertion of India's first solar mission, Aditya L1, will take place on January 6, 2024. The ISRO chief also stated that the spacecraft's insertion time has yet to be determined.

"The Lagrangian point (L1) insertion of Aditya L1 will be done on January 6, 2024, but the time has not been decided yet," Chief Somnath was quoted as saying.

With agency inputs