Flood warnings, space weather and a campus open to start-ups: the radar facility ISTRAC is raising

Background

The ISTRAC Advanced Radar Research Facility (IARRF) is being established by the space agency as a multidisciplinary platform to advance research in the radar technologies of the next generation. Radar of that kind matters to ionospheric and atmospheric science, to weather monitoring, to cloud studies and to space weather studies. The facility is meant to let scientists observe processes in the atmosphere and in the near-Earth space environment, which supports better weather prediction, space-weather assessment, communication and navigation studies, and future missions. Its stated societal uses run from flash-flood and urban-flood warnings, and lightning and thunderstorm nowcasting, to aviation and airport safety, and to advisories that help farmers plan irrigation, harvesting and crop protection. More radars are to be set up at the facility after due approvals by the government, as and when the need arises, and they are to serve regional as well as national requirements. IARRF is also planned as a shared research platform for students, universities, research institutions, start-ups, industry and young scientists, where experiments can be run and radar technology developed and validated. The idea is to bring academia, national laboratories and industry together, encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and develop expertise. The facility will also house a space exhibition on the achievements of the Indian space programme.