ISRO chief hails ISTRAC as 'silent backbone' as Golden Jubilee celebrations begin

Bengaluru, Sep 10 (PTI) ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) has been the silent backbone of every mission, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said on Wednesday.

He was speaking at an event marking the launch of the year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations of ISTRAC, which was established on September 6, 1976.

Appreciating ISTRAC’s "dedication, innovation, and resilience" in ensuring the success of ISRO’s ambitious missions, Narayanan said, "ISTRAC has handled a large number of ground stations and meticulously planned spacecraft operations for complex missions such as the Mars Orbiter Mission, Chandrayaan-1, 2, and 3, SPADEX—the first docking experiment mission of ISRO—and the ISRO-NASA Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission." Headquartered in Bengaluru, ISTRAC is one of ISRO’s ground segment arms, providing networks for Earth observation, space science, interplanetary satellites, and all launch vehicle missions of ISRO, besides supporting missions of other agencies as well.

Former DoS secretaries and ISRO chairmen A S Kiran Kumar and S Somanath were among the dignitaries present at the event.

The celebrations also showcased ISTRAC’s journey from a single station at Sriharikota to a global network with advanced capabilities in mission operations, deep space tracking, and space surveillance.

As part of the event, a coffee table book highlighting ISTRAC’s achievements and a Golden Jubilee logo were released.

Narayanan also formally inaugurated ISTRAC’s newly designed website, Spandan. PTI JR SSK KH