ISRO is developing a nano satellite to monitor suspended particles in polluted Indian cities

In a bid to monitor air pollutants and aerosols in the air of polluting Indian cities, a nano-satellite mission is underway.

For this, ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) of University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies are collaborating to develop the Next Generation Earth Monitoring and Observation and Aerosol Monitoring (NEMO-AM) satellite.

The nano-satellite, which is among ISRO’s important missions, will monitor air pollutants that pollute cities including Delhi, Lucknow, Amritsar and Allahabad.

The nano-satellite will weigh 15kg and placed 500 km above the earth.

SAC director Tapan Misra told ET the mission is designed to cover, each day, up to 50,000 sq km area of the country's 32.87 lakh sq km.