INDIA: PRESSING FORWARD WITH GPS, SATELLITE, MOON PROGRAMS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 000705

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS
STATE FOR STAS
STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPA TSPL TPHY SENV EAIR ANET PREL IN
SUBJECT: INDIA: PRESSING FORWARD WITH GPS, SATELLITE, MOON PROGRAMS

REF: STATE 14881


1. (U) SUMMARY: In an April 8 conversation, Shantanu Bhatawdekar,
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Officer on Special Duty in
New Delhi, updated ESTOff on personnel changes in ISRO, progress on
GPS systems, upcoming satellite launches, moon mission cooperation,
and the Bhuvan application. The economic slowdown does not appear
to have diminished ISRO's budget or its ambitions. END SUMMARY


2. (U) Bhatawdekar opened the conversation by mentioning that after
the recent retirement of former Director for International
Cooperation Dr. Jacob Ninan, the Director's position was split in
two. Dr. D. Gowrisankar became Deputy Director for International
Cooperation and Head Scientist, while Gopala Krishnan took over the
policy, legal and MOU-related aspects of International Cooperation
for ISRO. Both are based in Bangalore.


3. (U) Bhatawdekar next raised India's GAGAN project which he
confirmed would provide regional augmentation to the U.S. GPS
system. Expected to begin implementation in 2009 and reach full
operational capability by 2011, ISRO expects the GAGAN system to
achieve accuracy levels of less than three meters by using eight
ground-based reference stations, a mission control center and a land
uplink station to analyze ephemeris and environmental data and send
correction information to the existing NAVSTAR constellation. He
also noted GAGAN would serve as a mechanism to establish ISRO's
knowledge base for its development of the Indian Regional
Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS).


4. (SBU) Bhatawdekar stressed India's desire for self-sufficiency in
global navigation capabilities, concern about loss of access to
signals during a potential conflict, and inability to obtain desired
accuracy levels from other providers as key motivators for
developing the IRNSS. A December 2008 PowerPoint document by
Gowrisankar and Director of Satellite Navigation Dr. SV Kibe
indicated India has filed for frequencies in the range of 1164-1215
MHz in the L band and 2483.5-2500 MHz in the S band, and noted that
frequencies for both standard and restricted positioning services
would be L5 1176.45 MHz and S 2492.08 MHz. (NOTE: Bhatawdekar did
not indicate whether IRNSS would be compatible with the U.S. GPS
system, but suggested that the system should be usable by
commercially available GPS receivers. END NOTE)


5. (SBU) ISRO plans to place all seven IRNSS satellites in orbit by
2011, including three in geosynchronous orbits (at 34, 83 and 132
degrees east) and four in geostationary orbits (two at 55, and two
at 111.5 degrees east),with an expected coverage area of 40 to 140
degrees longitude and -40 to 40 degrees latitude with an accuracy of
less than 20 meters. (NOTE: ESTOff notes this timeline is very
ambitious, and likely to slip a year if not longer given ISRO's
other space commitments and history of delays. END NOTE) While he
did not provide a specific timeline of launches, Bhatawdekar said
that in line before IRNSS were a microwave satellite for all-weather
visibility on the C-band at 5.3 GHz, the OceanSat-2 satellite, and
several other unspecified remote sensing satellites. Local press
reports that the all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1),
containing an Israeli C-band synthetic aperture radar, is expected
to be launched April 20, 2009 followed by a fully indigenous RISAT-2
by the end of the year.


6. (U) Despite expressing frustration at the inability of ISRO
scientists to obtain timely visas to participate in a NASA-sponsored
lunar conference in the US, Bhatawdekar was generally happy with the
scientist-to-scientist collaboration between ISRO, NOAA and NASA -
especially related to the Chandryaan-1 mission. He said ISRO was in
the process of deciding on payloads for the Chandryaan-2 mission,
which would definitely include a moon lander and rover developed in
conjunction with the Russians, and he expected ISRO to release a
formal announcement of the opportunity to submit proposals for
international payloads in the near future. Regarding press reports
of a manned moon mission, Bhatawdekar said that was not under
serious consideration at the moment and that ISRO intends to put a
man into low-earth orbit, but probably not until 2015 at the
earliest. The project is estimated to cost approximately INR 120
billion (USD 2.4 billion) spread over two Five Year Plan periods.

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7. (SBU) Press hoopla of a March 2009 launch notwithstanding, ISRO's
Google Earth-like application known as Bhuvan has still not been
completed and a prototype of the interface and database is not
expected to be available for the director's review for 3-4 months,
according to Bhatawdekar. Bhuvan will rely solely on Indian
imagery, despite no plans to launch additional satellites, and
provide worldwide coverage updated at least annually. Based on an
established Government of India (GOI) security protocol, imagery of
sensitive Indian sites will not be provided to the public but will
be used for government and military purposes. Bhatawdekar believed
there was a mechanism for other countries to request sensitive data
be blocked out or not published on the public website, but wasn't
sure what that process would be. He said the goal was to provide a
more detailed focus on India and the region for value added products
on issues like droughts, floods, natural disasters, and crop growth,
for example. Customers will also be able to purchase
high-resolution images from the GOI's Remote Sensing Agency in
Hyderabad. Bhatawdekar acknowledged that there were significant
technical hurdles to overcome in several areas including frequent
updates to the imagery, file sizes, bandwidth restrictions, and
security reviews.


8. (SBU) COMMENT: The global economic slowdown does not seem to
have impacted funding for ISRO's space programs - which are a
centerpiece of India's national pride and remain very ambitious.
Recent turnover in ISRO's International Cooperation office,
compounded by slow progress on U.S.-India commercial space launch
and technology safeguards agreements, has reduced space research
conversations and coordination between the U.S. and India.
Bhatawdekar was a very friendly and conversational interlocutor who
freely answered questions on programs with which he was familiar,
and who gave ESTOff the impression that ISRO was interested in
further strengthening space relations with the U.S. In the
meantime, ISRO continues to reach out to other countries, especially
Russia, France and Israel, for cooperation and assistance in their
space programs.

BURLEIGH