What is India's first orbital data centre satellite?
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500+ questions on Science & Tech with explanations
📌 Summary:
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India launched its first orbital data centre satellite — a pioneering concept of placing cloud computing infrastructure in space orbit
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What it does: The satellite hosts onboard storage, processing units, and AI inference chips; can store and process data in orbit and beam results to ground stations on demand
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Key advantage: Eliminates need to transmit raw sensor data (from Earth observation, remote sensing satellites) back to ground — data is processed in-orbit and only outputs sent down → massive bandwidth savings
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Technology: Uses radiation-hardened processors (RISC-V architecture), solid-state storage, and laser communication links for inter-satellite data transfer
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Applications: Real-time disaster monitoring, precision agriculture analytics, defence reconnaissance with near-instant analysis, weather modelling
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Developer: ISRO in collaboration with a private Indian space start-up (under IN-SPACe framework)
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Global context: Only a handful of countries (US, China) have experimented with edge computing in space; India becomes 3rd country with this capability
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Strategic implication: Reduces dependence on ground-based data infrastructure, more resilient to cyber-attacks and ground-level disruptions
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UPSC relevance: Fits space technology, indigenisation, IN-SPACe policy reform
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