ISRO launched 7 Singaporean satellites last week that marks a milestone in the both countries’ space partnership. The mission launched via PSLV-C56/DS-SAR is the dedicated commercial mission of New Space India Limited (NSIL) for ST Engineering in Singapore.
DS-SAR is the radar imaging earth observation satellite, which is the primary satellite for the mission. It has been developed under a partnership between DSTA representing the Singapore Government and ST Engineering. Once deployed and operational, it will be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Singapore government.
ST Engineering will use it for multi-modal and higher responsiveness imagery and geospatial services for their commercial customers. DS-SAR carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
ISRO will allow the DS-SAR to provide for all-weather day and night coverage, and is capable of imaging at 1m resolution at full polarimetry.
In addition to the primary satellite, there were 6 co-passenger customer satellites also that belonged to Singapore. Six co-passengers are VELOX-AM, a 23 kg technology demonstration microsatellite; Atmospheric Coupling and Dynamics Explorer (ARCADE), an experimental satellite; SCOOB-II, a 3U nanosatellite flying a technology demonstrator payload; NuLIoN by NuSpace, an advanced 3U nanosatellite enabling seamless IoT connectivity in both urban and remote locations; Galassia-2, a 3U nanosatellite that will be orbiting at low earth orbit and an ORB-12 STRIDER , satellite is developed under an International collaboration.
Singapore high commissioner Simon Wong congratulated the Indian space agency for the successful liftoff and deployment of these satellites in the intended orbits. “To bold new frontiers in the India-Singapore space partnership!” he tweeted. The Indian High Commission in Singapore also tweeted, “India-Singapore space partnership marks another milestone with the launch of 7 Singaporean satellites by Indian space agency ISRO today.”
ISRO launched Singapore’s first indigenously built micro-satellite in 2011; two more in 2014 and 6 in 2015. During PM’s visit to Singapore in June 2018, six MoUs were concluded by NTU for research & exchange partnership with NITI Aayog in the area of artificial intelligence, machine learning, cognitive computing and big data analytics to improve healthcare, cybersecurity, automation, mobility, smart energy systems and e-governance, joint PhD and research with IITs and IISc Bengaluru, space research with Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and establishment of an endowment for Indian research scholars coming to Singapore.
On 23 February, 2022, India and Singapore signed a MoU on Cooperation in the fields of Science, Technology, and Innovation at the inaugural session of the India-Singapore Technology Summit 2022. The Summit was held virtually and co-organised by Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) and CII.
The summit also saw the signing of an implementation agreement between Enterprise Singapore (ESG) and India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST), to bring together corporate and startups from both countries to collaborate on developing new innovative technologies and solutions.