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Coast Guard to help ISRO recover satellite

Rajesh Nair

Rs. 4 crore central fund for CG station in Puducherry

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

Inspector General Rajendra Singh, Commander, Coast Guard Region (East).

PUDUCHERRY: The Coast Guard is gearing up to assist Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to recover its to-be-launched satellite called Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE), according to Inspector General Rajendra Singh, Commander, Coast Guard, Eastern Region.

The space agency would launch the SRE on January 10 from Sriharikota and after staying in the orbit for a few days, it would splash down in the Bay of Bengal.

The CG would deploy its advanced offshore patrol vessel "Sarang" to recover the 614-kg satellite. Already, the vessel had conducted two "successful trials" with the assistance of scientists from the ISRO, the Inspector General, who was here to visit the Coast Guard station, told The Hindu in an interview.

It was quiet a tricky job and the CG is closely interacting with the scientists to make it successful, he said.

According to the present plan, the vessel carrying CG men and scientists would move to the area where the satellite would land after ISRO announced the date of its descend and exact position.

The CG divers then would go in Gemini boats (inflatable rubberised boat with fast manoeuvrability) and recover the satellite.

Mr. Rajendra said the CG planned to expand its newly set up station in Puducherry into a full-fledged unit as soon as the dredging work near the Port was over. "The development of the station was taken up considering the future threat perception. Currently, between Chennai and Point Calimere, the CG does not have a unit," he pointed out.

Once the dredging was over, in-shore patrol vessels and fast patrol vessels would be based in the unit. It had almost completed the process of acquiring 25 acres of land.

As for the development of the newly set-up station, the Centre had sanctioned Rs. 4 crore.

The CG had also very recently moved one of its advanced offshore patrol vessels, CGS Sagar, from the Western region to the Eastern region.

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