ISRO Align with 170 Government Projects to Benefit Common Man
ISRO receives the Gandhi Peace Prize for its contribution in many areas.
In Which Projects Can ISRO be Helpful?
Bhuvan
ISRO has recently diversified its Bhuvan (geo-spatial platform) application service, which can be a key tool to implement India՚s smart city programmes.
This service is currently being used to create database of national highways and toll plazas, develop information systems for decision-making on border management and mapping country-wide ground water among other services.
Bhuvan՚s primary roles as communication & navigation applications and weather forecasting.
Gagan
The Geo-Augmented Navigation System (Gagan) uses geo-synchronous satellites to guide aircraft.
There are 18 reference stations in the country for Gagan situated at various airports.
These stations pick up signals from the GPS satellites orbiting in space.
The benefits of Gagan include improved efficiency, direct routes increased fuel savings, approach with vertical guidance at runways, significant cost savings due to withdrawal of ground aids
It reduces workload of flight crew and Air Traffic Controllers.
Background
In view of the growing demand for location-based services, Isro has recently embarked upon developing its own satellite navigation system -
Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) The IRNSS is being developed to provide position information services to users in the country and the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary
GPS-Aided and Geo-Augmented Navigation (Gagan) : Gagan is a satellite-based augmentation system, implemented jointly with the Airports Authority of India, to provide navigation services with accuracy and integrity, required for civil aviation applications.
What Did the Prime Minister Say During the Occasion?
Prime Minister quoted father of Indian space programme, Vikram Sarabhai, who had once said the “Country was not pursuing its space mission out of competition but out of necessity as innovations of any kind would eventually improve the living conditions of the common man” .