The satellite dish planted at the Suva Grammar Grounds in Nasese is not a spaceship or a laser machine as claimed by Fijians online, but an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) temporary terminal assisting with data gathering for ISRO missions around the sun’s orbit.
Confirming the functions of the machine and the reason why ISRO chose Fiji as a location, scientist Dharvendra Yadav said Fiji was part of the trajectory path of the deployed spaceship and it would assist in gathering vital data.
Mr Yadav said ISRO had a few permanent terminal bases in the world, however, certain missions required the erection of temporary terminals such as the one set up at Veiuto.
“When the particular satellite is in orbit it has a predetermined trajectory and it has to be covered by ground stations,” he said.
“If there are some areas or gaps that the Indian stations cannot cover, that’s where we send the transportable temporary terminals.”
The ISRO representative said the basic purpose of the temporary terminal was to act as a ground station that communicated with the satellite and downloaded data.
