Indian Archives - Defence Monitor

08 Aug

South Africa ready to host BRICS summit: Minister

Johannesburg, Aug 8, South Africa is ready to host the much-anticipated 15th BRICS summit, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor has said. "President Ramaphosa has confirmed South Africa's readiness to host the 15th BRICS summit in person, in Sandton, Johannesburg. The president has therefore invited 67 leaders from Africa and the Global South to attend the BRICS-Africa outreach and BRICS Plus dialogues," Pandor said on Monday while briefing the media about the country's preparations for the summit, which will be held on August 22-24, Xinhua news agency reported. The leaders invited to attend the summit cover all the…

15 Jun

Views differ among ex-Army officers on Centre’s ‘Agnipath’ scheme

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the 'Agnipath' recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the armed forces. Soldiers recruited under the new scheme will be inducted into the armed forces as 'Agniveers', a new rank as opposed to sepoys who join the Indian Army under the legacy recruitment model. The 'Agnipath' model will foresee the recruitment of personnel below officer rank (PBOR) in army, air force and navy for four years, including six months of training. "The Cabinet Committee on Security has taken a historic decision today to approve the transformative scheme of 'Agnipath'. Under this, Indian…

08 Feb

ISRO to start 2022 space romance with RISAT launch on Valentine’s Day

Chennai: The Indian space agency will begin this year's romance with space missions on the Valentine's Day, on February 14, by having one more eye in the sky, with the radar imaging satellite RISAT-1A or EOS-4. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C52 (PSLV-C51) carrying 1,710 kg EOS-04 is scheduled to lift off at 5.59 a.m. on February 14. The rocket will also carry two small satellites as co-passengers - a student satellite (INSPIREsat-1) from Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology (IIST) in association with Laboratory of Atmospheric & Space Physics at University of…

17 May

At UNSC, India condemns rocket attack that killed Indian nurse

United Nations: While mourning the death of an Indian nurse in Israel, India's Permanent Representative T. S. Tirumurti on Sunday condemned the rocket attacks from Gaza that killed her.Speaking at a rare Security Council meeting held on a Sunday, he, however, also reiterated India's support for the Palestinian cause and condemned the retaliatory attacks by Israel. Soumya Santosh, who is from Kerala, was killed in Ashkelon inside Israel by the rocket launched reportedly by the Iran-backed Hamas organisation from Gaza last week. She was working as a caregiver for the elderly.The Council met in a virtual session as the situation in…

12 May

India’s Geo Imaging Satellite GISAT-1 launch further delayed

Chennai: Uncertainty continues to dog the flight of India's first Geo Imaging Satellite (GISAT-1) this time due to coronavirus spread across the country, said an official of Indian space agency.The GISAT-1 will be the country's first sky eye or earth observation satellite to be placed in geostationary orbit. The satellite supposed to be put into orbit this month is all set to be delayed as employees at various centres of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) including that of the rocket launch centre in Sriharikota were affected by Covid-19. Further with the demand for oxygen shooting up from the hospitals to save…

03 Nov

Mixed payload satellites may have prompted ISRO to use generic names

Chennai: With Indian satellites sporting mixed payloads for varied users perhaps the space agency has decided to opt for a generic name for its earth observation satellites, said a satellite expert.He also added that satellite names should not be changed prior to the launch as it may result in problems at a later stage. Recently, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) decided to change the name of its radar imaging satellite RISAT-2BR2 as EOS-01 standing for Earth Observation Satellite-01.Till date ISRO has not officially told the nation that RISAT-2BR2 has been renamed as EOS-01 and the reasons for the same. "Nowadays satellites…

14 Mar

Suspense on launch of India’s Geo Imaging Satellite GISAT-1 continues

Chennai: Suspense continues on the revised date of launch of India's first Geo Imaging Satellite-1 (GISAT-1) with Indian space agency officials maintaining silence on the matter.On March 4, a day before the scheduled launch GISAT-1 onboard the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-F10 (GSLV-F10) and hours before the start of the launch countdown, Indian space agency announced postponement of the mission owing to some technical glitch. "The launch of GISAT-1 onboard GSLV-F10 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-F10), planned for March 05, 2020, is postponed due to technical reasons. Revised launch date will be informed in due course," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had said…

31 Dec

Parl panel ends with ISRO scientist’s flute performance

Bengaluru: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is admired for sending satellites and rockets into the space but a senior scientist from the premier organisation has enthralled the Internet by playing the flute at the end of a meeting with a Parlaimentary panel. The video of the flute performance was shared on Twitter by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh, who is a member if the Parliamentary Standing Committee.P Kunhikrishnan, Director of U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, concluded the last meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee at ISRO by playing the flute. In his twitter post, Ramesh said that…

04 Dec

We located crashed Vikram lander first, says ISRO chief

Jaipur: Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K. Sivan has said that its own orbiter had located the crashed Vikram lander on the lunar surface. However, "ISRO will not refute the claims made by the NASA," he said, speaking to media on the sidelines of the sixth convocation of the Central university of Rajasthan in Ajmer on Tuesday."You can see on our website that we have already identified the crashed lander, however, "We don't want to refute the claims made by NASA," he added further. Sivan was speaking with reference to NASA's claim made on twitter saying: "The #Chandrayaan2 Vikram lander has…

21 Nov

ISRO postpones Cartosat-3 and 13 US satellites to Nov 27

Chennai: The Indian space agency on Thursday said it has postponed the launch of Catosat-3 satellite and 13 commercial nanosatellites with its PSLV rocket by two days to Nov 27.According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the launch of PSLV-XL variant carrying Cartosat-3 and 13 US nano satellites has been rescheduled for November 27 at 9.28 a.m. The PSLV-XL variant rocket will blast off from India's rocket port in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.Earlier ISRO had said the rocket launch will be on Nov 25 at 9.28 a.m. Cartosat-3 satellite is a third generation agile advanced satellite having high resolution imaging capability.…