Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Science & Technology
Why in News?
Recently, The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN‑SPACe) have released new guidelines requiring authorisation for planned re‑entry of space objects.
- Planned Re‑entry – Controlled return of satellites, launch vehicles, or space objects to Earth with managed landing area, time, or trajectory.
- Uncontrolled re‑entry – Objects naturally decay and burn up in the atmosphere.
Key Provisions of Guidelines
- Mandatory Authorisation – Indian entities must seek IN‑SPACe approval for planned re‑entry; whether within or outside Indian territory, needs to get authorisation from IN-SPACe.
Foreign entities only via Indian‑incorporated firms.
- Risk Threshold – Casualty risk must remain below 1 in 10,000.
- Insurance – Mandatory third‑party liability insurance; companies bear full risk, not the Government of India.
- Disclosure – Re‑entry intent must be declared during initial application; late decisions require authorisation at least six months before manoeuvre.
- Approval Timeline – IN‑SPACe requires re‑entry disclosure at application, re‑verified three months prior; late decisions need application six months before planned controlled re‑entry.
- Exemptions – Objects expected to fully burn up during disposal do not need separate approval.
- Technical Documentation – Applicants seeking re-entry authorisation are required to submit detailed information about the mission
- Mission profile and re‑entry trajectory.
- De‑orbit strategy and failure scenarios.
- Fragmentation and survivability analyses.
- Ground casualty and reliability assessments.
- Identification of impact/danger zones and mitigation measures.
- NOTAMs – Planned re‑entry requires IN‑SPACe advisory note for Notices to Air Missions (NOTAMs) and maritime danger-zone notifications.
- Liability – 3rd -party liability and insurance requirements, and may have to amend their authorisation if timeline, trajectory, or impact zone changes occur
Reference
Business Standard | Spacecraft Re-entry
