Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on September 21 announced that the foundation stone for the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Advanced Radar Research Centre under Project NETRA will be laid at Chandrapur in the state.
The proposed facility is part of ISRO’s efforts to strengthen India’s space situational awareness capabilities and improve the tracking of objects in orbit, particularly as the number of satellites and other space objects continues to grow.
Announcing the development in a social media post, Sarma described the centre as a strategic addition to Assam’s infrastructure and said it would contribute to the protection of India’s critical space assets.
The radar facility is being developed under ISRO’s Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) programme, which is designed to monitor objects in space and support activities related to space situational awareness.
ISRO has earmarked around 67 acres at Chandrapur for the project. According to the space agency’s 2025-26 annual report, the land was transferred in November 2023, while the final registration was completed on November 7, 2025.
Project NETRA includes several components aimed at enhancing India’s ability to monitor the space environment. These include radar systems, optical telescope facilities and a centralised control centre.
The ISRO Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Control Centre in Bengaluru, established in 2020, serves as the central hub for these activities. The system supports the tracking of space objects, orbit determination, collision-avoidance alerts and monitoring of satellite and rocket-body re-entry.
Sarma said the establishment of the radar research centre would further expand Assam’s role in hosting major national infrastructure and advanced technology projects.
He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for selecting Assam as the location for the strategic facility.
The project is expected to add a significant space-research and monitoring facility to the state while contributing to India’s broader efforts to strengthen its space situational awareness capabilities.