India 2018

492 India 2018
Space Applications and Disaster Management Support
The hallmark of Indian space programme has been the application-oriented
efforts and the benefits that have accrued to the country through this programme.
The societal services offered by INSAT/GSAT satellites in the area of teleeducation
and telemedicine were continued during the year. Remote sensing
applications projects at national, state and local levels are being carried out
throught well-established multi-pronged implementation architecture of
National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) in the country.
Indian remote satellite constellation helped in agricultural crops inventory,
agricultural drought, forest fire, landslides and earthquake monitoring, gas
pipeline monitoring, groundwater prospects mapping, inventory, monitoring
of glacial lakes, water bodies and satellite aided search and rescue.
The Disaster Management Support (DMS) programme of ISRO continues
to provide space based data and information as well as communication means
for the efficient management of disasters. The Decision Support Centre (DMS-
DSC) established at National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) is engaged in
monitoring natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, landslides, earthquakes
and forest fires.
Space Commerce
Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Department of Space, is
marketing the Indian space products and services in the global market. Under
commercial contracts with Antrix, 209 international customer satellites have
been successfully launched by PSLV so far.
International Cooperation
International cooperation is an integral part of Indian space activities and ISRO
continues to lay importance on bilateral and multilateral relations with space
agencies and space related bodies with the aim of taking up new scientific and
technological challenges, defining international frameworks for exploitation
and utilisation of outer space for peaceful purposes, refining space policies and
building and strengthening existing ties between the countries. ISRO signed
cooperative agreements with the French, UAE, Japanese, US, Vietnamese,
Afghanistan and Russian agencies as well the US Geological Survey.
Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology
Towards capacity building in human resources and to meet the growing
demands of the Indian Space Programme, the Indian Institute of Space Science
and Technology (IIST), a deemed university, was established at
Thiruvananthapuram in 2007.
Earth Sciences
Earth system sciences deals with all the five components of the earth system,
viz, atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and biosphere and their