India, Sept. 22 -- Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday laid the foundation stone for the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) Advanced Radar Research Facility at Chandrapur near Guwahati, marking a step towards expanding India's space situational awareness (SSA) infrastructure.

The facility is being established under ISRO's Network for Space Objects Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) programme, which is aimed at improving India's ability to monitor and track satellites, space debris and other objects in orbit. ISRO's 2024 space situational assessment report identifies the Chandrapur radar as one of the key observation assets being developed under Netra, alongside an optica...