GUWAHATI, Sept 21: The foundation stone laying ceremony and Bhoomi Pujan of the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) Advanced Radar Research Facility (IARRF) were held at Chandrapur, Assam, on Monday. Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma performed the ceremony, which was scheduled from 11 am at the ISTRAC site.

It took place in the presence of Assam Science and Technology Minister Keshab Mahanta, ISRO Chairman and Department of Space Secretary Dr V Narayanan, and ISTRAC Director M R Raghavendra. Announcing the programme on X earlier in the day, Sarma called it a "landmark moment for Assam," and said the facility, being set up under ISRO's Project NETRA (Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis), will improve India's ability to track objects in space and protect its space assets.

ISTRAC is the ISRO arm that runs the network of ground stations providing telemetry, tracking and command support to satellite and launch vehicle missions. Project NETRA is ISRO's effort to sharpen its watch over satellites, debris and other objects circling the Earth.

Its key components include radar, an optical telescope facility and a central control centre, with the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Control Centre in Bengaluru, set up in 2020, serving as the hub. As more objects crowd into orbit and collision risks grow, the new radar is meant to improve India's ability to detect and track working satellites, dead spacecraft and orbital debris.

The system as a whole is designed to follow space objects, work out their orbits, issue collision-avoidance alerts and monitor the re-entry of satellites and rocket bodies. ISRO has earmarked about 67 acres at Chandrapur for the radar facility.

According to its 2025-26 annual report, the land was transferred in November 2023 and formally registered on November 7, 2025. The Assam government has allocated 200 bighas for the project.

ISRO's latest space situational awareness report notes that work is under way on an indigenous space-object tracking radar in northeastern India. Sarma noted that Assam had long been seen as remote from India's technology heartlands, and said he was pleased to see cutting-edge national infrastructure now coming up in the state.

He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for considering Assam for the strategic project. He added that Assam is emerging as a hub for national strategic technology projects.