VZCZCXRO3639
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHHM RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHNEH
RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHPW RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNE #0705/01 0991254
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091254Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6099
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCPDC/NOAA NMFS WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/NASA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHMFISS/HQ USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFIUU/NGIC INTEL OPS CHARLOTTESVILLE VA
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUETIAA/DIRNSA FT GEORGE G MEADE MD

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. 
 
NEW DELHI 00000705  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶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