Parliament Question: Space Vision 2047

Key Highlights:

• ISRO/DoS is leveraging space technology for diverse applications in agriculture, disaster management, climate monitoring, and other developmental sectors.
• Key agricultural applications include national crop mapping, yield estimation for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), and jute crop surveillance.
• For disaster management, near-real-time monitoring of floods, landslides, and cyclones is conducted, with outputs uploaded to BHUVAN and National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM) portals.
• The Space Vision 2047 roadmap focuses on enhancing Earth Observation, Satellite Communication (including Direct-to-Device (D2D) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)), and NavIC for national development.
• NavIC is planned as the primary Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) service, with indigenous GNSS Baseband ASICs development and integration into 5G/6G.
• The Indian Space Policy-2023 provides open and free access to Indian Earth Observation data with coarser than 5m Ground Sampling Distance (GSD).

Detailed Insights:

• Satellite-based services support national flagship programs like MGNREGA, WDC-PMKSY, PMAY-HFA(U), PMGSY, RKVY, and UIDAI.
• The FASAL 2.0 project, funded by MoA&FW, uses space agro-meteorological data for operational crop monitoring and yield assessment.
• Satellite communication supports BharatNet and Digital India to bridge the digital divide and enhance governance, including for Gram panchayats.
• Climate monitoring utilizes data from EOS-06 and INSAT-3DS satellites, disseminated through the National Information System for Climate and Environment Studies (NICES) portal.
• Future satellite communication will include Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) using 5G/6G standards and sovereign N-GSO constellations for broadband services.
• NavIC expansion aims for enhanced signal diversity, accuracy, global coverage, and mass adoption through integration into consumer devices and critical infrastructure.

Key Concepts Involved:

• BHUVAN: India's geo-platform portal providing geospatial data and services for various applications.
• NavIC: India's independent regional satellite navigation system, providing accurate positioning services.
• Quantum Key Distribution (QKD): A secure communication method that uses principles of quantum mechanics to establish cryptographic keys.
• Indian Space Policy-2023: A policy framework guiding India's space activities, promoting private sector participation and data accessibility.
• FASAL 2.0: A project for forecasting agricultural output using space-based and agro-meteorological observations.