ARIES Nainital and DRDO's IRDE Dehradun sign MoU on ground-based Space Situational Awareness
DST's Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, and DRDO's Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun, signed an MoU on 13 May 2025 to strengthen India's ground-based Space Situational Awareness.
Summary
The Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, and the Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun, a DRDO laboratory, signed an MoU at IRDE Dehradun on 13 May 2025 to strengthen India's ground-based Space Situational Awareness (SSA). The MoU covers use of ARIES observing facilities to monitor space objects and jointly developing electro-optical systems for astronomy and SSA. ARIES hosts national facilities including the 3.6 m Devasthal Optical Telescope and the ST Radar; IRDE designs electro-optical surveillance systems for the armed forces.
Key facts
- Signed
- 13 May 2025, IRDE Dehradun
- Parties
- ARIES Nainital (DST) and IRDE Dehradun (DRDO)
- Purpose
- Ground-based Space Situational Awareness
- ARIES facilities
- 3.6 m Devasthal Optical Telescope; ST Radar
Practice MCQs 2 questions
The MoU signed on 13 May 2025 between ARIES, Nainital and IRDE, Dehradun aims to strengthen India's capabilities in:
Show answer
Correct answer: D — Ground-based Space Situational Awareness
The MoU aims to strengthen India's ground-based Space Situational Awareness (SSA), using ARIES observing facilities to monitor space objects.
Consider the following statements: 1. ARIES, Nainital is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology. 2. IRDE, Dehradun is a laboratory of ISRO. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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Correct answer: A — 1 only
Only statement 1 is correct. IRDE, Dehradun is a DRDO laboratory.