On February 16, 2024, a solar-powered Radon Observatory named Bhabha Radon Observatory for Seismic Application (BHAROSA) was installed at the Department of Physics, Manipur University.
This observatory is a part of the Indian Network for Detection of Radon Anomaly (INDRA) project by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), with 100 similar stations across the country. The Vice Chancellor, Prof. N Lokendra Singh, welcomed the initiative and expressed his support for the same.
The device, BHAROSA, developed by BARC’s Radiological and Advisory Division, is buried 2 feet underground and requires only about 2 square meters of space for installation. Weighing 150kg, it is a solar-powered equipment designed in-house to study seismic activities in the region. BHAROSA detects radon, a radioactive gas emitted by the decay of Uranium found naturally in variable concentrations in the rocks and soils deep ground, and sends signal directly to the monitoring centre at BARC. This solar-powered observatory continuously monitors the radon emissions, detecting any changes in radon signals for modelling and investigating as a precursor to earthquake early warning.
