SHRIHARIKOTA, India - The India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that India will soon receive a major boost in space awareness as its first object tracking radar is now ready for trials. The Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) is hosted at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR at the Shriharikota Range in the Nellore district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Once it comes fully online, the MOTR will place India among the rare group of nations operating indigenously designed space-based object tracking radars. A group includes Germany, Japan, and the USA.
The MOTR program development and production was orchestrated in-house by the ISRO at a reported cost of INR253-crore ($40.7 million). Among the MOTR's subcontractors is Acharya Nagarjuna University, which was contracted by the ISRO to partner with the SDSC SHAR in order to provide high frequency structural simulator software as an aid to radar design.
As it is prepared for trials, the MOTR is composed of an estimated 4,600 T/R radar modules capable of electronic beam scanning. The electronic scanning capability means that the MOTR, through its 12 m x 6 m (39.4 ft x 19.7 ft) radome, will be able to track its targets simultaneously in a 360° spherical range without having to rotate. Its design specifications also allow the MOTR to track a maximum of 10 objects at a range of up to 1,000 km (540 nm).
The ISRO expects to have the MOTR fully operational by the end of 2015.
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