New radar facility at Chandrapur to sharpen ISRO's tracking network
ISRO's space-tracking arm ISTRAC is setting up an Advanced Radar Research Facility at Chandrapur in Assam, a move expected to strengthen India's satellite tracking, telemetry and command capabilities from the Northeast. The facility will support the growing cadence of Indian launches, including the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme and upcoming navigation satellites.
The development comes days after ISRO and the European Space Agency extended their cooperative agreement to January 2032, widening collaboration to space weather and human and robotic exploration — a pact that formally brings India's planned Bharatiya Antariksh Station into Europe's human-spaceflight planning.
ISRO chairman V. Narayanan, speaking at the Bangalore Space Expo 2026, underlined that India needs 200–300 satellites over the next six to seven years and called for deeper private-sector participation to hit a target of 50 launches a year.
